Board Cites New Efforts on Safety, Voc Ed

School director: Improvements can start by aiding ‘homegrown’ talent

By Adam Reinherz
The Tube City Almanac
May 12, 2025
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

(Adam Reinherz photo for Tube City Almanac)

New efforts are underway to improve student safety and opportunities at McKeesport Area School District, school board members said.

During Thursday’s school board meeting, MASD school director Matthew Holtzman told attendees he and fellow School Director Jason Pavlecic — members of the safe schools committee — met with administrators and community members on May 1 to discuss the enhancement of district “security features.”

Apart from identifying specific tasks, such as updating a security vestibule and rekeying door hardware, Holtzman said the meeting was a chance to welcome McKeesport and White Oak fire chiefs and examine current procedures.

“Throughout the country, emergency responses are starting to change,” Holtzman said. “Because of active shooter situations, and other things like that, we don't immediately evacuate [campuses] now.”

Holtzman, a fire safety professional with 23 years of experience, said today’s realities are forcing districts and first responders to reconsider best approaches to managing and mitigating threats.

Between the start of 2025 and April 7, 55 school shooting incidents occured in K-12 schools across the U.S, according to Statista. The statistics portal defines school shooting incidents as “every time a gun is brandished, fired or a bullet hits school property for any reason, regardless of the number of victims (including zero), time, day or the week, or reason, including gang shootings, domestic violence, shootings at sports games and after hours school events, suicides, fights that escalate into shootings and accidents.”

Given the recent swell of active shooter events, “fire and police departments, regardless of size or capacity, must find ways to marshal appropriate and effective responses to these events,” according to the International Fire Chiefs Association. “Local jurisdictions should build sufficient public safety resources to deal with active shooter scenarios.”

In an effort to “get up to standard,” MASD is “in further talks” with Allegheny County officials, Holtzman said. It’s important not to “wait until the last minute, or be one of the last places to do it.”

Vocational education stressed

Along with bolstering student safety, the district has an opportunity to strengthen community relations by investing in vocational training, Holtzman explained.

Currently, the McKeesport Area Technology Center provides career and technical education programs to 10th, 11th and 12th graders in the district. Through both school and work-based endeavors, MATC participants develop tangible experiences and knowledge to propel immediate success post-graduation, according to MASD.

MATC students can select from programs including collision and repair, building construction, child care, diversified occupations, engineering, culinary arts, commercial arts and cosmetology.

Holtzman wants to see emergency services added to the list.

“It's my belief that if we can get people from the district to get involved in emergency services early that we can have people that are homegrown patrolling our streets,” he said.

Whether these students end up joining police, fire or emergency medical services, isn’t the point.

“If they're homegrown individuals, they're gonna have a better understanding of the culture here, the people here, have a better rapport with people and that may be better for our community overall,” Holtzman said.

Speaking with this reporter following Thursday’s meeting, the school director said, “We have a shortage of people from the area, from our school district, who want to be involved in emergency services.”

Increasing the number could be achieved by introducing a new program to MATC’s current offerings or simply adding an elective in the high school, he continued.

Despite the school director’s optimism, financial barriers exist: such as costs related to materials or instruction.

“It's always about the numbers,” Holtzman said. Still, federal funding may be the key to enabling the district and community to achieve greater aims, he continued. “I’m just waiting for the folks that are a lot better than me with numbers to tell me if it’s feasible or not.”

Adam Reinherz is a Pittsburgh-based journalist. He can be reached at adam.reinherz@gmail.com.

Originally published May 12, 2025.

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