The school district hired a new professional to improve safety and security around the campus, Matt Leitzel.
At the beginning of the year, Leitzel was hired onto the administrative team to handle safety and security for all buildings in the district.
With 24 years in law enforcement with York County Police, Leitzel is excited to bring enhanced safety and security to our school district.
“I had the opportunity to start at the bottom of an organization, and by the time I retired, I was at the very top, so I’ve had the chance to both be led and to lead individuals in an organization that was law enforcement focused,” Leitzel said.
Originally, Assistant SuperIntendent Len Reppert was handling the position; however, that was stacked on his other responsibilities.
“I now oversee all safety and security as opposed to being the school’s safety and security coordinator,” Reppert said. “Mr. Leitzel will take over many of the responsibilities.”
As the district’s safety and security coordinator, it’s Leitzel’s job to ensure that any safety measures that can be implemented are.
“There’s a policy that we don’t prop any of the exterior doors, we only allow people to enter the schools through the main office, that’s a great policy, but if we are not following it, that completely negates the policy,” Leitzel said. “It’s not enough to simply have a policy, you have to make sure that it’s trained [for] and followed.”
To improve the ensurement of our district’s safety, all staff are required to take three hours worth of safety training per year.
“One hour is facilitated in person, and the other two hours are online tutorials,” Reppert said.
Drills are a major part of each school’s safety, and there are state requirements for how often a drill has to happen, such as a fire drill once a month or the severe weather drill at the beginning of the year in October.
“Our state requires that we keep an accurate account for when they occurred, what level they occurred at, and what school, all the information has to be reported,” Reppert said.
