Armed Officer Will Patrol Centennial Schools

WARMINSTER, PA —It's a first for the Centennial School District.

Kevin Burns, the district's new safety and security supervisor, will be armed once his paperwork from the Pennsylvania Department of Education is completed, Schools Superintendent Dana Bedden said.

Bedden did not offer a timetable as to when the paperwork would be completed.

Burns was hired from the Neshaminy School District where he served in the same capacity from 2019 to 2022. He's also a graduate of William Tennent High School.

As supervisor of safety and security, Burns is credentialed as a school police officer, the superintendent said. And under security guidelines outlined by the district last year, Burns has arresting powers and two levels of comprehensive school threat assessment guidelines training.

Bedden said that Burns has districtwide responsibilities and circulates based on the work being done that particular day and routinely. His main office is located at the high school.

Burns has served as a police officer since 1988, and in various roles as a patrolman, detective, investigator in vice and narcotics, D.A.R.E. officer, and sergeant.

The superintendent said that last year Centennial did not have any school resource officers (SROs), a school police officer, or security guards as defined by the state education department.

While the district still does not have SROs, its new safety and security staffing plan for security guards added five additional positions to the current staffing model.

The total safety and security staff is about 15 members, who now work 190 days per year versus 180 days, Bedden said. Those additional days allow them to mirror the teacher work year schedule as well as provide days for continued training/professional development.

Bedden said that in prior years, Centennial's safety and security were managed in a decentralized model from a district perspective, with security monitors (not security guards) hired by and reporting to the assigned school principal.

The monitors had limited "Security Training" and tended to operate more in a receptionist capacity. The elementary and middle school monitors' primary role was coordinating visitor access into the buildings.

Last year, the administration developed, and the school board approved new Job Descriptions for the supervisor and the security guards with staffing plans and expectations to transition from a decentralized model to a centralized model.