DUNMORE — Residents voiced questions and concerns Wednesday night about how law enforcement will keep the Dunmore School District safe as district officials work to establish a school police force.
More than 20 people attended the school board meeting, some of whom were in favor of keeping Dunmore police officers as school resource officers in the district.
The district plans to hire four retired Pennsylvania state troopers for its police force — which has to be approved by the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas — and began researching the process last year, with a presentation last spring. A one-year agreement between the district and the borough for SROs to be in the schools expires at the end of this year. Board and borough council members were unable to reach an agreement for the borough to provide SROs for next school year despite multiple meetings at the end of last year and earlier this year.
Members of the Dunmore Police Benevolent Association expressed their disappointment in a Facebook post last month that borough and school district officials weren’t able to come to an agreement for SROs to be stationed at the district’s two schools. They criticized the district’s decision to employ what they said were “private security guards.”
Corey Sohns, the union’s president, blasted a statement issued by Superintendent John Marichak last month, in which Marichak called the post “self-serving, irresponsible and despicable.” Sohns said officers’ goals are public safety for the community, noting that many officers have children in the district and attended district schools.
Sohns said the board hasn’t been transparent about the process of hiring the school officers, adding there’s no guarantee they will have police powers until they are approved by the court.
“Nothing can replace the value of the rapport and relationships between our students and our Dunmore police officers, which is an important element keeping our children safe,” he read from prepared remarks. “We believe it would be a big mistake to take our officers out of the school to save minimal amounts of money.”
Capt. Bill Springer, one of the district’s school resource officers, said officers are in tune with the community, pointing to the Police Department’s role in 2021 thwarting a plot by a group of teenagers to attack the high school on the 25th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting.
Eugene Mentz, the union’s secretary and treasurer, said the relationships officers form with students extend to outside the district.
Corey Sohns, left, president of the Dunmore Police Benevolent Association and Eugene Mentz, the association’s secretary/treasurer, address members of the Dunmore school board regarding the district hiring its own police officers Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)
Members of the public listen during the Dunmore school board meeting Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)
Members of the public attend the Dunmore school board meeting Wednesday, April 2, 2025. Many were there in support of having Dunmore police officers serve as school resource officers in the district and against the district hiring its own police officers. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)
“Having that presence here in the school, it’s irreplaceable,” he said.
Marichak said last month negotiations with the borough were done in good faith but didn’t work out, with the cost presented by the borough for the officers significantly more than $120,000. He said at Wednesday’s meeting the district would save nearly $50,000 with its own police officers and would ensure the district is covered and safe. He expects one school police officer will be in the buildings at all times.
District officials said at Wednesday’s meeting they heard from the borough that the Police Department couldn’t provide officers to cover the school buildings, which Marichak echoed in his statement last month, saying the borough couldn’t provide officers to staff extracurricular events.
“We are strictly looking to make sure that we have full coverage of our buildings at all times,” board Secretary Jessica Libassi said, “and that has not consistently been the case here.”
Resident Breeda Holmes worried about the lack of police coverage in the buildings and how school police officers will be managed.
“I want to know if someone is coming in the school that someone will stop them,” she said.
Libassi said many districts employ their own police officers, pointing to North Pocono, Carbondale Area, Western Wayne and Mid Valley as examples, and the community would have a chance to meet the school police officers.
During the meeting, directors approved a memorandum of understanding between the district and the borough that will dictate the relationship between the borough Police Department and the school district police. Borough council members approved the same MOU at their meeting last month.
Board President Greg Hunt said after the meeting the school police officer candidates are being vetted by the court and he hopes they will be in place by next school year.