Laurel: To making improvements. Westmoreland County commissioners say they want to see more oversight at the secure juvenile detention center. Good.
The facility was closed for about eight months between 2023 and 2024. It reopened in March 2024 with half the licensed 16-person capacity. That will require more staffing. Part of the problem with the closing was staffing and training.
But, in addition to hiring more people, commissioners say they want more information about what is happening in the Hempfield-based detention center. Part of that will include more meetings of the juvenile detention board.
Composed of the three commissioners, plus Controller Jeff Balzer, Sheriff James Albert and Common Pleas Judge Michele Bononi, the board previously met three times a year. Monday’s meeting is expected to be the first of a new monthly schedule.
This is a proactive and responsible step. If staff are expected to be vigilant in oversight of the juveniles in their care, the board should be just as vigilant in oversight of the facility.
Lance: To having nothing to say. On Monday, Gateway school board members unanimously approved a $50,000 settlement in a racial discrimination lawsuit.
The case was brought by Gateway alumna Korie Morton-Rozier, who claimed she was not hired as the district’s athletic director because of her marriage to a Black man. The suit claims then-board member Paul Caliari sent a group text to others on the board asking if Morton-Rozier “date(ed) the darkies.” Later that evening, the board voted 7-1 to hire football coach Don Holl for the position. When the incident stirred outrage, Caliari offered his resignation.
Caliari could not be reached for comment. His resignation is really his last word.
But the district also declined to comment. That is a mistake.
The district leadership owes it to the community — and particularly the students — to demonstrate more than signing a check as a means of apology.
Laurel: To hands-on education. A.W. Beattie Career Center offers an Emergency Response Technology program that lets students obtain EMT certifications as well as training for careers in law enforcement and firefighting.
That will become easier with $85,000 in grants from the Pennsylvania Department of Education that will go toward a life-size ambulance box fitted out like a functional emergency vehicle. The simulator will allow students to train on an advanced dummy to get experience with “live-action scenarios.”
This means more students will have better training in the kind of real-world situations first responders experience. That’s important when emergency personnel are in high demand.