In his first-ever agenda item, a newly seated Beaver Area School Board member this week asked that a police officer be hired to provide security at board meetings.
Board member Luke Berardelli, elected to the board last November, also separately asked the district solicitor whether he could get an exemption to the district’s policy banning guns on school property. That request came at the end of an executive session to discuss unrelated litigation. Solicitor Janet Burkhardt did not immediately return a call from BeaverCountian.com seeking comment.
“I just thought it would be smart for us to ensure that, you know, we have the opportunity to feel secure during these meetings,” Berardelli told the board of his idea to hire a police presence at meetings.
“These are public meetings. People are allowed to come in and attend and, you know, crazy times, so (I) just want to make sure that everyone is safe and that if, God forbid, something happens that we have the means to be able to respond accordingly and a police officer is the best way to do that.”
