The April 13 meeting of the East Penn School Board featured a lengthy discussion of the superintendent's proposed school resource officer after a presentation of the pros and cons of the position.

Superintendent Dr. J. Michael Schilder brought up the SRO some weeks ago and the position has been included in the 2015-2016 budget draft given to the board. No action was taken as the item was only a presentation, but board discussion was lively and engaged.

As Schilder presented it, the SRO would act as a first responder and law enforcement officer in Emmaus High School, but also provide services as a safety expert, community liaison, trainer and resource for preventative and proactive safety measures in the school.

Schilder has worked with SROs in other districts and he and the East Penn administration advised the board they felt very strongly about implementing the program.

On an official level, the SRO is selected and funded by the district, preferably from within the ranks of the Emmaus Police Department, which would then, presumably, backfill the vacated position on their team. A Memorandum of Understanding is the key agreement establishing the SRO's roles and responsibilities.

Dave Piperato, principal of Emmaus High School, and Mark Covelle, assistant principal, both endorse the need for a SRO.

The superintendent talked openly with the board about the lack of quantitative research and data available to really justify the position. Few studies evaluate the effectiveness of the role, in part because preventative situations are so difficult to define. No one can know what would have happened; only that it did not happen. Schilder is more interested in being proactive, and more than once referred to the SRO as a deterrent for potential illegal or threatening occurrences.

Charles Ballard questioned the lack of data and how security issues would be separated from discipline issues. Schilder said the MOU would help define how problems are dealt with, but administration and the SRO would be working as a team. Ballard also expressed concern about differentiating discipline for special needs students, legal issues with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and adequate training for a substitute SRO.

Covelle and Schilder both emphasized the advantage to the SRO's presence as one of a safeguard, making students feel safe and comfortable in their high school, both attesting to experiences of this kind from other districts.

"The SRO," Covelle said, "has a keen awareness of the student body and a keen awareness of special needs. Having that person who knows your students is extremely valuable and allows them to function more on the side of a mentor and less on the side of an enforcement officer."

For Ziad Munson, the pros of the position– which include increased security of school facilities and fewer arrests with the SRO as a deterrent– make intuitive sense, but "don't seem to be borne out by the best available data we have."

Francee Fuller encouraged her fellow board members and the administration to set up meetings with other districts where SROs are present to discuss with those administrations the pitfalls and advantages of the position.

The board also discussed proposed changes to the summer school program to give students more flexibility and less in-classroom time per week. Changes would include transitioning to a new curricular software called Edgenuity, a mastery-based learning environment online where students can interact with real teachers in addition to the teachers from the district.

The old model for summer school involved five 70-minute periods per week for five weeks of mandatory classroom attendance. The new model would mean only three morning periods of 70 minutes each and eliminate scheduling conflicts. Students would be required to attend three hours per week per course but all other work could be completed online, either at home or anywhere else with available computer and Internet access.

Projected costs for the new software, which would also be considered for the district cyber school, is just over $31,000. But summer school has been operating at a loss– $2,831 last summer-and with reduced need for staff the new hybrid model would actually increase revenue. Student tuition would cover the cost of the software.

Courses offered would replicate what was offered before: English, math and biology. Driver education cannot be included because of state requirements. The program would also include accelerated coursework for students wishing to open room in the fall and spring schedules for college-level courses. Students could potentially finish a course in a week, at their own pace, instead of completing the full five weeks at a slower pace.