Superintendent: Metal detectors coming to Erie School District middle, high schools after shooting

The Erie School District is moving ahead with plans to install portable metal detectors at its two high schools and three middle schools following Tuesday's shooting of a student inside Erie High School.

Erie schools Superintendent Brian Polito told the Erie Times-News of the district's plans on Thursday, the day after the Erie School Board consented to Polito's proposals at a closed executive session on Wednesday night.

Polito said the district intends to spend more than $1 million on the security upgrades, including more than $300,000 on the metal detectors. The plan calls for the detectors to go in and for other changes to occur as soon as possible, knowing that Erie High students will not return to classes until April 19, when spring break ends.

Polito said the Erie High students might have to attend classes virtually for a time until all the security measures go into effect. He also said the district will have a safety plan in place before students return to class on April 19, and he said the district will share the plan with families in advance.

The school district at 5 p.m. on Thursday posted on its website a letter from Polito on the upgrades. The letter, also signed by Don Orlando, the Erie High principal, went up on the district's Facebook page as well.

The district is bringing in metal detectors "in light of the increase in gun violence in the community and the incident on Tuesday," Polito said. "We feel this measure is necessary to keep our students and staff safe in the building."

The Erie Education Association demanded the metal detectors and other security changes following the shooting. Polito said his administration has been working with the union for months on security issues and shares its concerns.

"We agree with everything they want," Polito said of the EEA's demands on Thursday.

The shooting, in which one student was shot in the abdomen and lower parts of his body, occurred about 9:20 a.m. on Tuesday at the 2,300-student Erie High, at 3325 Cherry St.

The suspect, who is a juvenile, turned himself into the Erie police on Wednesday and is being held at the Edmund L. Thomas Adolescent Center, according to the city of Erie and the Erie County District Attorney's Office. A detention hearing is scheduled for Friday in juvenile court.

Latest:Erie High shooting suspect turns self in, placed in juvenile detention

Polito said the district is looking at the purchase of portable metal detectors made up of two stanchions each, with students walking between the stanchions. He said the system would be designed to detect guns and other contraband without creating bottlenecks that would lead to long delays for students to get to class.

The state Department of Education authorized the district to use pandemic-relief funds to pay for the security upgrades, Polito said.

Detectors, other safety measures had been planned for agenda

Polito said his administration since January had been in discussions with the School Board about installing metal detectors in light of the increase in violent juvenile crime in Erie during the pandemic and in response to a lockdown of Erie High due to an unfounded gun threat on Jan. 11.

Polito said those discussions were held in a previous executive session, because they involved safety issues. In addition, Polito said, the district asked a vendor for a quote on the installation of metal detectors, and received a quote on Feb. 25. The school district provided the Erie Times-News a copy of the quote, which the district received by email and which is dated Feb. 25, according to the documents.

Lockdown:No threat at Erie High following anonymous call for a gun at the school. Here's what we know

Polito said his administration late last week was preparing to put metal detectors and other safety proposals on the agenda for the board's regular monthly voting meeting, which had been scheduled for April 13. He also said the district had been working through many of the safety issues, including fixing locks at Erie High, as part of its facilities plan.

The shooting "accelerated our implementation," Polito said.

"It is something that we have been talking about internally," he said of the metal detectors and other upgrades. "For the last two months, it has been at the top of our list."

Board gives 'general support'

School Board Vice President John Harkins, who chaired Wednesday night's executive session, confirmed that the School Board at the meeting consented to the installation of the metal detectors and the other proposed safety changes. He said the board, which cannot vote at executive sessions, plans to give retroactive approval to the metal detectors and other changes at its regularly monthly meeting, now scheduled for April 20.

He said the board can give retroactive approval due to the emergency situation the shooting caused. Polito told the board his administration will immediately move ahead with the purchase of the detectors, Harkins said — a scenario that Polito confirmed.

"There was a general tone of agreement and general support of all that was asked of us," Harkins said of the outcome of the executive session.

He confirmed that Polito has regularly brought up the need for metal detectors with the board, including at a prior executive session and the board's annual retreat earlier this year. Harkins confirmed that, before Tuesday's shooting, the administration had been preparing an agenda for the April 13 meeting that included a presentation about metal detectors.

Harkins said Polito previously told the board he has been concerned that a student would be shot at school because of the spike in juvenile violence in the city.

"With all that is going on, the superintendent has been bringing the urgency," Harkins said, "He has told us, we got to move on this — the locks on the doors at Erie High and the metal detectors.

"He has been stressed about it," Harkins said. "We kept moving toward it."

"In hindsight," Harkins said, "it is regrettable" that installation of the metal detectors did not come sooner.

Teachers' union upset

In response to the shooting, the school district canceled classes, in-person and virtual, for the rest of the week at Erie High. The district is on spring break next week, with students to return to classes on April 19. The district might need more time beyond April 19 to make all the safety changes at Erie High and the other schools, Polito said.

More details:The Erie High School shooting: What we know

"There is a possibility that we may need to remain virtual for a short period after spring break," he said.

Polito said the Erie School District has never had metal detectors at Erie High, created in 2017 with the merger of East, Strong Vincent and Central high schools at the Central building, renamed Erie High. He said the district has regularly used security wands on students who arrive late at Erie High and has used the wands to do random checks on students.

He said the use of the wands had kept the buildings secure, but that the district administration and the School Board had started to discuss bringing in metal detectors in response to the rise in violent crime among juveniles during the pandemic. The Erie School District had not had a school shooting before Tuesday's incident.

Related: Rise in juvenile offenses leads Unified Erie anti-crime effort to focus on middle school kids

"We feel it is time to have an extra level of protection for our students and staff," Polito said.

The shooting prompted sharp criticism of the district from the Erie Education Association teachers' union. The president of the 860-member EEA said in a statement that the union had been trying to get safety improvements at Erie High since January.

The EEA reiterated its concerns in a letter that the Pennsylvania State Education Association submitted to Polito on the EEA's behalf on Tuesday. The EEA in that letter said Erie High teachers would teach remotely and would refuse to teach in person until the district installed metal detectors at Erie High and made other changes at the school, including making sure all the locks to doors work. The EEA in the letter called conditions at Erie High "fundamentally unsafe."

Union concerns:Erie High School teachers demand safety fixes, say they will go remote otherwise

Polito said the district has been meeting regularly with union representatives to review their concerns.

Polito said the EEA's concerns were "something we started talking about when we had the lockdown in January" at Erie High.

Polito said school and union officials have been holding monthly safety meetings since Feb 1. He said the other meeting was held on March 1, with the April meeting scheduled for Tuesday. He said that meeting was canceled due to the shooting.

The EEA had no immediate comment on Polito's safety plan. A spokesman for the union said he would talk to union officials about a response.

Union concerns:Erie High School teachers demand safety fixes, say they will go remote otherwise

Board meets in executive session

At Wednesday's executive session, the Erie Times-News objected to the session being closed to the public. But a lawyer for the district, Jennifer Gornall, said the state Sunshine Act allowed for the executive session because the School Board was discussing safety and legal issues.

None of the School Board members objected to keeping the session closed. It lasted about two hours. Public agencies are prohibited from voting in executive sessions, which is why the School Board's vote on the safety measures must be held in public.

Initial coverage:DA: Suspect in Erie High shooting is under 15, faces juvenile charges

The School Board had been scheduled to hold a public nonvoting study session on Wednesday night, but, after the shooting on Tuesday morning, board President Lori Pickens on Tuesday afternoon rescheduled the study session for April 13, and the board instead held the executive session on Wednesday night. Pickens was not present in person at the executive session but participated by telephone.

The shift in the meeting dates at the Erie School District led the School Board to reschedule its regular monthly voting meeting from April 13 to April 20, with the nonvoting study session now on April 13.

In anticipation of what is expected to be high public interest, the School Board on Thursday changed the site of its April 13 study session. The board moved it to the auditorium at East Middle School, at East Sixth and East Avenue, where the board holds its voting meetings.

The study session had been scheduled for the board meeting room at the school district administration building, at West 21st and Sassafras streets. That room has limited public seating.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.

Security improvements

These are the security upgrades that Erie schools Superintendent Brian Polito is pursuing in light of the Erie School Board's tentative approval on Wednesday night. Polito said the state Department of Education is allowing the district to pay for the upgrades using pandemic aid.

• Metal detectors, for Erie High, Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy and East, Strong Vincent and Wilson middle schools — $350,000. Detectors are already in place at the Patrick J. DiPaolo Student Success Center at Emerson-Gridley.

• Locks at Erie High to allow doors to be locked from inside — $34,840.

• Exterior door locks at Erie High — $121,000

• Forty additional security cameras at Erie High, which has 357 cameras — $19,460

• Security blinds on windows at Erie High — $115,000

• New gym door and partitions at Erie High — $54,978

• Intrusion alarm and door alarms at Erie High — $341,682

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie school shooting: Metal detectors coming to middle, high schools