By Brian Wallace
Lancaster Intelligencer Journal
LANCASTER, Pa. — For more than 20 years, Bill Gleason’s job was to protect and serve the residents of Lancaster city and township. Now he’ll be doing the same thing for a smaller group of people - School District of Lancaster students and staff members.
Gleason began working recently as the district’s school and community safety coordinator.
“This is great,” he said of the job, which pays $60,650 a year. “I’ve been extremely excited. I actually feel young again.”
Gleason, 49, retired last fall as a sergeant with more than 20 years of experience with the Lancaster city police department.
He then worked for InnerLink, a company that provides security, safety and wellness programs for the school districts.
That job was enjoyable, Gleason said, but he missed the public interaction he had as a police officer.
In addition to working as a street officer, Gleason was a DUI specialist and the department’s public information officer. He also was involved with community policing.
While working as the liaison between community police and the school district a few years ago, he became familiar with the district and helped SDL develop the safety coordinator position.
In February, the school board hired Earl Kean for the job, but he was fired in August. SDL spokeswoman Kelly Burkholder would not say why.
The district expanded the position to include more community involvement, and Gleason decided to apply.
He will oversee all aspects of the emergency-response plans the 21 district schools must adopt and will train school employees in implementing the plans.
Gleason also will manage school security systems and work with city police to coordinate the activities of crossing guards and school resource officers - uniformed city police - assigned to district middle and high schools.
In addition, Gleason will work with parents and community groups to address safety issues affecting students, both at school and as they walk to and from the buildings.
He will make presentations to students and community groups and report school safety data to government agencies and the Safe Schools Healthy Students initiative.
A federal program, SSHS pays his salary and the salaries of the six school resource officers. It also provides funds for student programs designed to improve wellness and safety.
Without those two elements in place, it’s difficult to educate children, Gleason said.
“If (students) are not safe and they’re not healthy, there’s no sense going any further in the school day,” he said.
Gleason said he wants to continue the school resource-officer program, even if grant funding isn’t available. “It has been such a successful initiative that I don’t see how that’s going to stop,” he said.
Copyright 2008 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.