School resource officer to join Abington Heights middle, elementary schools

Joseph Kohut, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·2 min read
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Sep. 5—When the bell rings Thursday at Abington Heights Middle School and Newton Ransom Elementary School, students will greet a uniformed newcomer.

The South Abington Twp. Police Department will assign a resource officer this school year to the Newton Twp. middle school and elementary school, Police Chief Paul Wolfe said.

Patrolman Jeffrey Spagna will be tasked with looking after more than 1,000 students and staff at the Newton Ransom Boulevard campus. Spagna, a township police officer for nearly 10 years, began orientation Thursday, Wolfe said.

A state police vulnerability study conducted two years ago recommended the middle school add a school resource officer because of the size of the campus. Spagna can also address issues such as juvenile alcohol abuse and bullying before students go to high school, the chief said.

"By the time they get to ninth grade over at the high school there's already issues," Wolfe said.

The Abington Heights School District will pay Spagna $75,000 for the school year using grant funding, Superintendent Christopher Shaffer, Ed.D., said.

After this school year, his salary will be paid from the district's budget.

"I don't see a circumstance where there isn't an SRO," Shaffer said.

Spagna is the district's second school resource officer. Sgt. Thomas Ksiazek has been assigned to Abington Heights High School for more than two decades, Wolfe said.

Patrolman William Morgan was sworn in last week as a full-time officer to fill the position left open by Spagna's reassignment. New full-time officers make 70% of the department's $74,171.99 base pay, or nearly $52,000.

Spagna's assignment as school resource officer comes more than six weeks after the district approved nearly $680,00 in spending for safety upgrades. Shaffer said purchases include new surveillance cameras and a visitor check-in that runs the identification of school guests through a criminal database.

"There isn't anything more high priority than school safety," Shaffer said.

Contact the writer:

jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9100, x5187;

@jkohutTT on Twitter.