When students walk through the doors at Brookville Area High School their bags are checked, they walk through a metal detector and, if it beeps, they’re scanned with a wand.

The Brookville Area School District is starting the school year with new security improvements. They added metal detectors and hired a full-time school resource officer.

“We don’t want this to represent a jail or a prison, we want it to be a school where kids can have fun and learn,” Principal Ruthanne Barbazzeni said. “At the same time, we want to make sure the kids are having fun and learning while they’re safe.”

The school board decided to make these security improvements at the high school after discussions with the community and students.

A $20,000 anonymous donation to the school paid for the metal detectors, and they’re in use because of faculty and staff who volunteered to operate them each morning.

“They recognize that this process is really supporting the students and them because we’re a whole team, we want to make sure everybody here is, you know, safe,” Barbazzeni said.

If a student is caught with something they shouldn’t have the student is pulled aside and, if necessary, police are contacted.

In order to have police presence at the schools, the district partnered with the Brookville Police Department. It was made possible through a Safe Schools grant.

Officers from the department will rotate as the school resource officer.

The school resource officer will help with getting kids through security in the morning, and monitor the main entrance and security cameras during the day.

“The kids that come in here are the little pots of gold and it’s our job to protect those pots of gold and we’re excited to do it.”

It is a two year partnership with the school. An officer will be on duty 8 hours each school day.