Penn Hills School District takes first steps to revamp district security, develop police staff

Penn Hills School Board members unanimously appointed a director of school district security April 24 with an eye toward developing its own police force.

The position was created after the district began looking into ways to revamp safety and security in the schools, Superintendent John Mozzocio said.

“Safety and security are the No. 1 priority at the Penn Hills School District,” Mozzocio said. “When parents and community members trust us with their kids, we’re gonna make sure they know that we’re up to date with the best practices.”

After drawing 40 candidates and going through 11 interviews, former state Trooper Don Johnson was approved to serve a three-year contract with an annual salary of $75,000 in a 9-0 vote Wednesday night.

Johnson will oversee the district’s day-to-day processes of students entering the schools and anything that falls within the realm of student safety, Mozzocio said.

“One of the things that Don Johnson is going to be charged to do is develop a police staff,” said John Zahorchak, the district’s director of operation and chief financial officer. “We want armed officers in each of the buildings. We want consistency. We want to have the same officers day in and day out in the district so that they can build good, positive relationships with the students.”

The district currently outsources a lot of its safety and security measures, Zahorchak said. The district collaborates with the Penn Hills Police Department, OSA Global and Pressley Ridge for its current security measures, he said.

“We have a significant amount of staff through those three departments,” Zahorchak said. “I think the idea was that in order to get better systems, we need to bring some of these positions back under our watch.”

According to Zahorchak, bringing some security factors under the Penn Hills roof will give the district more say in what happens in day-to-day operations. Zahorchak said Johnson’s police team would ease burden on the police department, whose officers get stationed at the school as an option for overtime.

Johnson is coming from Krise Transportation, and Zahorchak said district officials are unsure of when he will be released from his contract there.

“We want him to be able to start as soon as possible,” Zahorchak said. “Our next initiative is to hire an assistant security director.”