Parents express safety concerns to school board

Both incidents involved security measures at the high school.

Several parents brought up safety concerns in some Monessen schools during Tuesday’s school board agenda meeting.

City resident Stephen Marinos alerted board members to an incident at the high school.

“There were students coming in late, going through a metal detector,” Marinos said. “The metal detector is going off, and (the security guard) is letting them into the school. She said, unless it goes off, she is not allowed to check the students to see why they went off, and that was pretty concerning to me because students can bring weapons in.”

Marinos added that there were three kids walking through without backpacks, and all three times the metal detector went off. While the security guard was looking through the bags, she did not check the individuals themselves, Marinos said.

Marinos said something was making the metal detector go off, and it was happening every day.

“The reason why it was a concern to me, over the weekend, my son showed me kids from Monessen’s TikToks, showing all the guns they have,” Marinos said. “I was thinking what could happen at the school. That made me mad.”

Resident Stacy O’Connor told the school board that she picks up her daughter at the high school, and there aren’t a lot of security measures in place when collecting a student.

“You walk in, and sign a piece of paper,” O’Connor said. “No one IDs me, no one asks me my name. I can pick up anyone’s child. I need to make sure whoever is picking up my kid has the right to pick her up based off the papers that I sign. We just need better security.”

Board members expressed concerns about these issues, and said they plan to address them right away. Security leaders are aware of the situations and spoke with the people involved.

In other business:

• Next week, the board is set to approve a proposal from Joseph’s Nursery and Garden Center, LLC to repair the softball field at a cost of $16,673.

• Resignations have been submitted for approval by biology teacher Michael Egidi and seventh-grade teacher Patrick Hull, who are retiring at the end of the school year.

• A hiring event, hosted by Mon Valley Career and Technology Center, will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the center.