West Penn Township officials have set aside $16,000 in next year’s budget for improved security at its elementary school.

As part of next year’s spending plan, supervisors agreed at their budget workshop Monday morning to put that amount in as a line item for the 2019 budget.

Board Chairman Tony Prudenti said the action is in response to a policy permitting Tamaqua Area School District employees to carry firearms in school.

“To me, they’re being proactive,” Prudenti said. “I’m neither for it or against it.”

Prudenti said that he believes the fact that West Penn Elementary School is in the township and it’s children of the township who go to it, that it’s the township’s responsibility to assist the district.

He suggested a first responder system, but noted it’s all predicated on the school board allowing it.

Prudenti said he plans to pitch the idea to the Tamaqua school board when it meets at 7:30 p.m. today.

He said the first-alert type system alerts police and all the teachers in the building, and tells police exactly where a gunshot occurs in the building.

“It’s a little quicker response time,” Prudenti said.

In addition, Prudenti said that while there is currently a police presence at the school, he would like to see even more of a police presence there.

Township police Chief Brian Johnson said the police department has received “very good feedback” for having a “police presence” at the school.

Prudenti complimented Johnson and Sgt. Jason Lorah for doing an “unbelievable job” of running the CSI camp.

Johnson said the D.A.R.E. program also puts officers in the school and has proved to be popular with students.

On Nov. 14, the Tamaqua Education Association filed a lawsuit in the Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas to stop the district from arming staff.

Tamaqua Education Association officials say a policy permitting Tamaqua school employees to carry firearms in school violates the Pennsylvania School Code and other laws limiting the use of firearms by public employees.

The action came one week after more than 100 people, including students and parents, packed a Tamaqua Area School Board meeting to speak out against the policy.

On Sept. 18, the school board enacted a policy authorizing administrators, teachers or other district staff who undergo special training to carry firearms and use deadly force while performing school duties.

The group wants the court to declare that the school board exceeded its authority by adopting a policy that conflicts with the school code and other laws and unlawfully permits school employees “to carry firearms and use deadly force without the training and experience required by the General Assembly.”

At a Nov. 7 school board meeting, parents and community members in the district laid out extensive alternatives to the policy, including better screening of visitors, infrastructure changes, shooter detection systems, and investments in mental health support and threat assessments.

The Tamaqua Education Association is an affiliate of the Pennsylvania State Education Association.