<\/p>\n 2 kids arrested for possession of airsoft gun, knives in Governor Mifflin School District<\/a><\/p>\n
Key topics for discussion include details surrounding the recent incidents on district grounds, addressing community questions and safety concerns, and security steps being implemented moving forward.<\/p>\n
Superintendent Dr. Lisa Hess stated that the meeting aims to foster open dialogue, mutual understanding, and community support.<\/p>\n
Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and share feedback during the session.<\/p>\n
Greg Miller, Liaison to Cumru Township Police, posted the following statement on Facebook:\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Over the past week, our community has experienced two unsettling incidents. It is understandable that there is anger, fear, and frustration. People want answers, and I can see via their posts and comments that they feel that they aren’t getting them. I attended Friday night\u2019s game, and while I did not witness the incident itself, I did see the aftermath of children running, parents searching for their kids, and genuine fear across the crowd. I want to provide as much clarity as I can so that our collective energy can be directed toward productive solutions.<\/p>\n
First, it is important to state clearly that the local, state, and school officers who responded to both incidents performed their duties professionally. These were difficult situations, and they handled them admirably given the level of security present for such a large event. Acknowledging their work does not mean we cannot learn from what happened, particularly regarding Friday night\u2019s staffing levels.<\/p>\n
Here is what Friday night looked like from a staffing perspective. The game drew several thousand attendees. Present at the event were:<\/p>\n
– Three school safety officers dedicated to the game for the entire night.<\/p>\n
– One Shillington Borough officer, responsible for all calls within Shillington that evening, including the game. This officer was present but not dedicated exclusively to the event and would have had to leave if a call occurred elsewhere in the borough.<\/p>\n
– One state police officer, provided the game schedule and encouraged to stop by if available. This officer was not assigned to remain on\u2011site and would leave if needed elsewhere.<\/p>\n
– Three Cumru Township officers, also provided the schedule and encouraged to stop in if available. They were not assigned to the event and would leave if a call occurred in Cumru.<\/p>\n
Additional officers arrived only after the incident, when Cumru officers requested backup.<\/p>\n
This means that for a rivalry game with several thousand people in attendance, there were three dedicated school safety officers and no dedicated uniformed police presence. The school was aware that outside officers were not assigned to remain on\u2011site and could be called away at any moment. Had that happened, only the three school safety officers would have been left to manage a crowd of thousands. That is not a sustainable or acceptable model for large events.<\/p>\n
It is important for residents to understand that policing an event of this size \u2014 held entirely within Shillington Borough \u2014 is the responsibility of Shillington Borough. It is not the school\u2019s responsibility to provide sworn, uniformed police coverage for an event located within the Shillington Borough\u2019s jurisdiction. If Shillington Borough doesn’t assign dedicated officers for an event of this magnitude, then the school is left in a position where it must compensate by increasing its own security personnel. Unfair, but it’s the reality they faced. Relying on officers to \u201cstop by if they can\u201d is not a security plan, and we cannot rely on luck going forward.<\/p>\n
Regarding today\u2019s (Tuesday\u2019s) incident: it was unrelated to Friday\u2019s event. In this case, the system worked exactly as it should. School safety officers identified individuals of concern, notified police immediately, and officers responded promptly. Serious charges were filed. While we all wish incidents like this never occur, when they do, this is the response we expect.<\/p>\n
I hope this helps answer some of the questions circulating in the community.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SHILLINGTON, Pa. — The Governor Mifflin School District is inviting community members to a public partnership meeting following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[214,279,128,130,129,233],"class_list":["post-277764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-_homepage_top_stories","tag-berks","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}