Commissioner Skrepenak Outlines a Multi-pronged Approach to Keeping Luzerne County's Children Safe In and Around Our Schools

(Wilkes-Barre) - Spurred by recent threats and violence at schools in Northeastern Pennsylvania and all across the country, Luzerne County Commission Chairman Gregory A. Skrepenak recently unveiled Luzerne County's "Safe Schools Initiative", a cooperative effort among Luzerne County, local law enforcers, the county's schools, colleges and universities, and Luzerne County's Help Line, aimed at making students safer in and around the schools they attend.  Before a large audience of supporters at the Luzerne County Emergency Management Agency which included members of law enforcement, as well as officials from the county's educational insitutions, Commissioner Skrepenak outlined the multi-faceted program which features a real-time video system to be installed on all participating school properties which could be monitored by school staff, law enforcers, and Luzerne County 9-1-1 telecommunicators during emergency events. As part of the program, Luzerne County Public Safety Director Alan Pugh demonstrated another initiative component, in-car laptop computers with video monitoring capability which Luzerne County has already donated to each municipal police department in the county. Another component of the Safe Schools Initiative is the Wireless Emergency Notification System (WENS) which is available to all residents of Luzerne County, and will provide emergency notifications, informational updates and information about weather related emergencies to cell phones. To sign up, please click here:  Luzerne County WENS System. The Safe Schools Initiative also features a Hotline, operated by Help LIne, through which students can anonymously report threats of potential violence, or speak with professionals about issues such as bullying, drug and alcohol problems, or any topic of concern to our young people. 

The Safe Schools Hotline number is 1-866-700-KIDS.