Some Pa. superintendents have been quietly armed in schools—and parents probably don’t know
for WHYY’s Keystone Crossroads, July 10 2019
Amid ongoing debate about who can carry guns in Pennsylvania schools, some school administrators have been quietly armed for nearly a year, a Keystone Crossroads investigation has found.
According to a lawyer whose firm represents about 50 Pa. school districts, a handful of superintendents have gained permission from county law enforcement officials to carry concealed firearms in their schools without the public’s knowledge.
Attorney Ronald Repak, of the Altoona-based Beard Legal Group, gave a presentation at a school safety conference earlier this year, in which he said that his firm had petitioned district attorneys on behalf of administrators who wished to carry firearms in their official capacity.
Based on ambiguity in state statute, district attorneys in different counties arrive at different interpretations of the law.
Repak recently confirmed that fewer than six of those petitions were successful, and that administrators in those districts now carry guns. He would not disclose details about which districts or staffers.
There could be other armed staff at districts represented by different firms.
”I will tell you, you probably don’t know who these individuals are, but they are carrying concealed weapons within the school districts because of our petition,” Repak said.
The news came as a shock to some education advocates.
“I haven’t heard one thing at all about anyone carrying guns,” said Edward Albert, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association for Rural and Small Schools.