Hopewell Area School District hosts community discussion about school safety and swatting calls
HOPEWELL, Pa. (KDKA) — More than one month after multiple swatting calls to school districts across Western Pennsylvania, at least one district is giving parents the opportunity to share their concerns and ask questions.
On Wednesday at the elementary school, the Hopewell Area School District kicked off a series of conversations with the community after the hoax threat on March 29.
The sound of cheers echoed from the back of Hopewell Elementary School in the early evening Wednesday as parents watched their kids play little league. It was a much different scene than that from more than a month ago when all schools in the district went into lockdown after police received a call that there was an active shooter at the high school.
Law enforcement determined the threat was not real, but it left many traumatized, including parents like Brittany Weir, who has two children in the elementary school.
"I pulled up here pretty early right after I had heard what happened, and there was no police presence," Weir said.
It's one reason why she went to the community meeting Wednesday with Superintendent Jeff Beltz, the first of a series of sessions. The district asked to keep it private without media, but Weir got her answer.
"They're going to make sure that that's not an issue, God forbid if this ever happened again," Weir said.
"We wanted to get perceptions from the public and specifically our families because we get a perception of our students because they're in our buildings, but we don't always get the information that goes home," Beltz said.
Beltz said district officials have reviewed the incident with local authorities, the FBI, SWAT, county officials, and administrators and teachers. Hearing from parents is one more piece to the puzzle as they move forward and look over their emergency plans during the summer.
"The most immediate response would be the communication piece," Beltz said. "It's a healthy balance of trying to be swift in communicating with families but also being accurate."
On the communication front, Weir said the district has been fully transparent, but she said she feels it's a shame the district has to deal with this altogether.
"It's scary. I had to talk to my kids saying that this might not be the first time this happens. It could happen again, because I feel like society nowadays is out to get you no matter who you are," Weir said
The district is hosting five more meetings: May 10 at Hopewell Elementary School, May 15 at Hopewell Memorial Junior High School, May 16 at the central office, May 16 at Hopewell High School, May 17 at Independence Elementary and May 25 at Margaret Ross Elementary.