Clarks Summit officials are discussing adding school resource officers at Our Lady of Peace School, a move they and school officials said will keep the school safer.

Officials have been going through the details of the position at the school in Clarks Green since the start of the school year, and borough council members talked about it publicly at their meeting earlier this month. The talks have involved the Lackawanna County district attorney’s office, courts and officials in the Diocese of Scranton.

Police Chief Christopher Yarns said officials at the school reached out to him about having a school resource officer in October. The discussions came in the wake of a shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis in late August. A shooter fired into the Church of the Annunciation during a schoolwide Mass attended by students and faculty of Annunciation Catholic School; two students were killed and 30 people were injured.

“We’re just trying to get the logistics of it as well as the legality of it all done and squared away before we commit somebody up there,” he said.

Yarns sees one or two part-time officers working in the school at different times and hopes to have four officers trained as school resource officers. Two borough officers are currently certified as school resource officers, he said.

Yarns said having four part-time school resource officers ensures the school is covered.

“I don’t want too many, but at the same time, I want a handful that I can say, ‘Well, how about you? Can you work Tuesday? Yes. Can you work Wednesday? No. Maybe the other guy can work Wednesday,’ ” he said.

Yarns anticipates having the school resource officers in place at the school on a part-time basis by January and hopes to have a full-time school resource officer there at the start of next school year. The officers would be paid hourly, with the school reimbursing the borough for the hours they are in the school. Officials have not determined a definitive cost for the officers.

Yarns said ideally, the school resource officers would familiarize themselves with the school, the staff, its procedures and schedule.

Pennsylvania state law requires school resource officers, police officers and security guards working in public and private schools to successfully complete the Basic School Resource Officer Course offered by the National Association of School Resource Officers, or an equivalent course. It also states schools can allow only school security personnel to use firearms while performing their school duties.

Clarks Summit council members have not voted on the agreement to provide school resource officers at Our Lady of Peace School. If approved, the school, which enrolled 346 students in pre-K through eighth grade during the 2024-25 school year, would be the first pre-K-8 school in the Diocese of Scranton to have a school resource officer. Two diocesan schools, Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre and St. John Neumann Regional Academy — a pre-K through 12th grade school — in Williamsport, currently employ resource officers, spokesman Eric Deabill said in an email last week, although all schools in the diocese have relationships with law enforcement.

“All of the 19 Catholic Schools in the Diocese already have strong partnerships with their local police forces and we value those relationships,” he said.

There are two school resource officers in the Abingtons, both of whom are South Abington Twp. officers. They are stationed at Abington Heights High School and Abington Heights Middle School.

Our Lady of Peace School is no stranger to Clark Summit police, who patrol Clarks Green. Officers stop at the school several times a week and assist during school Masses, Yarns and school Principal Ann D’Arienzo said. Yarns said his officers also regularly stop at Clarks Summit Elementary School.

“We actually get out of the car and we walk through the building — the administrative staff, the principal at both schools see us,” he said. “They’re very thankful for our presence.”

D’Arienzo said having a school resource officer adds another layer of protection.

“It’s something families are in favor of,” she said.

Yarns said having a regular police presence at Our Lady of Peace School deters potential threats, including any bad actor at the school.

“The hope is that the officer there would engage them quickly and stop the action and limit our casualties to a minimum as much as we can,” he said.

Officials are drafting a memorandum of understanding between the borough and the school and are confident an agreement will be reached and voted on by council.

“I think there will be a meeting of the minds and agreement. I think there will be something,” Mayor Harry Kelly said. “I foresee something of good progress.”

Council President Gerrie Carey said the school is willing to work with the borough on the agreement, but one of the points of discussion is the school resource officer has to be available if an incident occurred elsewhere in Clarks Summit or Clarks Green.

“We definitely want to help out at the school and give them whatever hours we can devote to having one of our part-timers there,” she said.