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Adam Rippon walks red carpet at Oscars

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Luzerne County restaurant inspections: Feb. 22 to 28

<p>HANOVER TWP. &#8212; Security cameras administrators can access on smart phones, windows tinted to let students see out but others not see in, increased training for possible &#8220;active shooter&#8221; scenarios that includes training custodians and kitchen staff &#8212; these are some of the measures the Hanover Area School District has been taking or plans to do to improve student safety, and Superintendent William Jones wants to update parents and residents on it all.</p><p>&#8220;With all the goings on, we just want our community and parents to know that we&#8217;re taking proactive measures,&#8221; Jones said of a public presentation scheduled for Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m. in the high school auditorium. While the district has been upgrading security all along, the shootings in a Florida school prompted the meeting, he added.</p><p>&#8220;God forbid anything like that should happen at Hanover Area,&#8221; Jones said. &#8220;But if it can happen there, it can happen anywhere.&#8221;</p><p>The district recently expanded the number of security cameras thanks to a payments in lieu of taxes from NorthPoint Development, a company that has donated money each time one of the sites it handles in an industrial park is occupied. The sites are currently tax free to encourage development.</p><p>&#8220;We just upgraded from 14 to 20 cameras,&#8221; Jones said. &#8220;We want to show the clarity of the image, the ability to zoom in, and to view the images from the new cameras on smart phones.&#8221;</p><p>Jones said he&#8217;s also hoping to upgrade the public address system with a similar feature so administrators or teachers can make announcement via a phone in case they are cut off from the PA system microphone.</p><p>The district is also tinting lower level windows at the high school and Memorial Elementary. The coating still allows students and staff to see out, but blocks those outside from seeing in.</p><p>The district also recently bought a new monitor for township police that gives officers a clearer signal from the high school in case of emergencies. &#8220;We are fortunate that the township police station is near all four schools,&#8221; he said.</p><p>There are two ideas, Jones said, that came from listening to a ninth-grade student who survived the assault at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.</p><p>&#8220;When they talked to her, she said &#8216;Thank God we practice this a lot.&#8217; That&#8217;s something we&#8217;re going to be working on, making these types of drills once a month,&#8221; Jones said. &#8220;We want our kids to know exactly what to do so they can react in a pressure situation instead of thinking about what to do.&#8221;</p><p>The district follows the latest guidance from experts in such drills, teaching students to run away from the shots if possible, hide if unable to run, and fight back as a last resort.</p><p>&#8220;The other thing I got out of her interview was when she said they were running down the hallway and actually running toward the shots,&#8221; Jones said. &#8220;One of the maintenance people stopped them and told them to go back the other way.&#8221;</p><p>The current district training does not cover support staff such as custodians and kitchen workers, Jones said, but it will in the future. He noted the high school has large storage areas in the kitchen and another to warehouse school supplies, both of which could be used to secure students from the school while giving them an exit if it was safe.</p><p>&#8220;If the maintenance people know what to do, and the kitchen staff know what to do, they can help a lot of kids.&#8221;</p><p>The meeting should last about an hour, possibly an hour and half, Jones said. While the focus is on what the district is doing to keep students as safe as possible in schools, State Rep. Gerald Mullery, D-Newport Township, will be there.</p><p>&#8220;I would like him to make a few remarks on what&#8217;s going on in Harrisburg,&#8221; Jones said, &#8220;But I really want it to be just a presentation of what we have, and settle some fears of parents and guardians. I want them to know we&#8217;re not just watching these things and not doing anything about it.&#8221; </p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Hanover Area to show public safety measures in wake of Florida shooting