North Penn School District has revisited the possibility of implementing School Police Officers, a conversation that was tabled at the November 2025 board work session after years of discussion. 

The initiative of implementing School Police Officers met some public disapproval when it came to the board for a vote in November, facing criticism during public comment that engagement was not wide enough across the community to be put to a vote from the board. North Penn students and community members argued that they were not aware of the topic, and that they wanted to be a part of the discussion before the board voted on moving forward.

Now, three months later, and with two newly elected and two appointed board members, North Penn is acting on the criticisms it faced and is starting the conversation once again, this time including students, families, and staff. 

“There’s been so much turnover and so many other things happening that [the discussion] truly was tabled. But, now that our other board directors are all on board and they’ve been sworn in as of late December, we’ve acclimated them and we’ve gone through some orientation, and now we’re ready to start having that conversation again,” Superintendent Dr. Todd Bauer said. 

On February 11, students arrived at school early for a mandatory Knight Zone period, where they watched a sit-down interview style video, where Bob Gillmer, Coordinator of Communications Media, asked Superintendent Dr. Todd Bauer and Brandon Rhone, Coordinator of Emergency Management and Safe Schools, informational questions to brief the school on the topic of School Police Officers.

In the lunch periods following the video and continuing into February 13, breakout question-and-answer sessions were hosted for students to raise their questions, concerns, and comments with administrators, including North Penn High School Principal Mr. Kyle Hassler, Superintendent Dr. Todd Bauer, and Coordinator of Emergency Management and Safe Schools Mr. Brandon Rhone. A total of seventeen students attended the breakout sessions over the three-day period. 

“It was recognized that we needed to get the information out to the students. From that [November school board] meeting, we- we being the administration- were charged with providing a platform and an opportunity for students to receive the information, and then if they have questions and be able to ask those questions,” Rhone said.

“At this point, I think we’ve made every attempt to engage students. I think it was a fair criticism that, while we felt that we communicated it adequately in the fall, it was fair that we didn’t necessarily engage. Communicating and engaging are two different things,” Bauer explained. 

Bauer explained that after the presentation and breakout sessions, the next steps would be providing a summary of feedback to the Safe Schools Committee, who would then make a recommendation to the full school board of whether or not they want to move forward with the initiative. North Penn’s Safe Schools Committee followed up on the feedback they received in their February 24 meeting. 

In the meeting, following a summary of the presentation and conferencing with students, Rhone especially made note of the main questions that came up in discussions with students. 

Through the engagement with the students in breakout sessions, at the forefront of the discussions and questions raised was the contentious topic of School Police Officers being armed.

“In almost every group, the one question that was consistent was ‘What happens if somebody tries to take the officer’s firearm?’ I explained to all of those students today that there are different levels of retention holsters, and we would supply our School Police Officers with the highest level retention holster,” Rhone said.

“You have to do three things at the exact same time to get that weapon to come out of that holster, and so it’s a skillset. It certainly reduces the risk of a random person being able to walk up and take a firearm out of the holster,” Rhone continued. “People are worried about having a firearm, but I think from the video, it was seen more as a safeguard against if somebody else brought in a firearm or was trying to cause harm in school.”

Rhone also explained that the student engagement reached beyond the breakout sessions, and that he felt the general feeling of students was one of understanding of the information presented to them. 

“While we look at a number of seventeen students participating out of a 3,200 student population and some may be discouraged and say, ‘That’s really a small sample size of a student population,’ I will look at it this way: I think the information that was shared in the video helped answer some folks’ questions about it,” Rhone said. 

“In having some conversations walking around the halls, there was some chatter among students at the change of class and I talked to students in the hallway like, ‘Hey, what did you think, what did you hear, what are your feelings?’ My general consensus from the responses I was getting was, once the students had the information, they were like, ‘Okay, I’m good.’ I asked some folks and different leaders in the building of sports teams and clubs and student government. I asked what I think is a good mixed representation of the population in the building and that’s the general feeling and consensus I got,” Rhone said further. 

School board members present in the meeting also provided their thoughts on the topic following the summary of the information. 

“More than anything, I want to commend you for taking so much time and for investing in making sure that this was communicated so clearly to kids and staff at the high school. The KnightZone video was very clear. I thought it was really thoughtful. It was a little long, but it covered everything that needed to be covered. I think that the way this was intentionally done to make sure this was proactively communicated in a ‘must-come-to KnightZone structure’ rather than hoping that somebody would click on a link that got sent out was a really proactive approach that showed your investment in getting feedback from our students,” North Penn School Board member Dan Bell, who was newly appointed in December, shared.

“I asked the two students that live in my house, and both of them said it was clear to them and they didn’t have additional questions,” Kunbi Rudnick, School Board Vice President, added.

Though the breakout sessions are no longer taking place, the discussion is not closed for students, families, and staff. Rhone encouraged reaching out with any further questions and concerns on the topic, and contact information as well as Safe Schools Committee meeting links can be found on the Emergency Management and Safe Schools homepage. 

“I’m hoping that students now feel informed, regardless of if they’re for or against it. They don’t have to have a horse in the race. They can say, ‘I heard the information.’ What they do with the information is now up to them, and if they need clarity, they have opportunities to come and ask those questions,” Rhone said.