Lakeland School District Beefing Up Security
-->By: Shannon Murphy
Updated: January 3, 2013
Scott Township, Lackawanna County - A Lackawanna County school district is amping up security measures. Lakeland already has two police officers but they say that's not enough.
Kathy Possanza has a first grader in the Lakeland School District. The same age as the children who were killed at Sandy Hook, "That day was terrifying, awaiting for her to get off the bus just to take her home and squeeze her."
She is just one of the countless parents who support having a police officer present inside the schools at all times, "I'd like to see them in all 3 schools in addition to that of course other safety measures perhaps bullet proof glass at the door."
Wednesday night the Lakeland School Board held a special meeting to brainstorm ways they can beef up security. Chief James Romano with the Scott Township police is leading the way, "In order to keep bad guys out of schools with guns, we need to put good guys in the schools with guns."
Lakeland School District has already been very proactive. At the beginning of the school year they put a full time officer at the Junior Senior high school and following the tragedy at Sandy Hook they placed an officer at Lakeland Elementary.
School officials are thinking of adding a third officer who would be stationed at Mayfield Elementary. Although money is a factor they agree they can't put a price tag on a child's life.
Superintendent, Dr. Margaret Billings-Jones says, "Obviously we know we can't be fool proof but we're trying to get as close to that as possible."
The school board will meet on January 16th for their regularly scheduled meeting. That's when they hope to present firm plans for additional security.
