Former news publisher appointed to oversee Harrisburg’s finances.

January 23, 2019 | by Lizzy Hardison

A Harrisburg resident and former media executive has secured the final seat on Harrisburg’s new financial oversight board, a state spokesperson confirmed today.

David Schankweiler, former publisher of the Central Penn Business Journal, was appointed to the five-member Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (ICA) by state Senate Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati on Jan. 17.

Scarnati’s office confirmed the appointment to TheBurg this afternoon.

Schankweiler will join UPMC executive Tina Nixon, nonprofit professional Audry Carter, attorney Kathy Speaker-MacNett, and property developer Ralph Vartan on the newly created ICA, which will oversee Harrisburg’s finances for five years.

Until 2016, Schankweiler was the CEO and owner of Journal Multimedia, which published the Central Penn Business Journal, NJBIZ, Lehigh Valley Business, Central Penn Parent and other industry publications.

Schankweiler sold Journal Multimedia in 2016 to New Media Inc. for $18 million, according to a report in the Central Penn Business Journal.

Since his retirement from the publishing industry, Schankweiler has served on numerous nonprofit boards, according to a biography on the Harrisburg University website. He also served for 10 years as the university’s founding board chair.

“[Schankweiler] has dedicated much of his life to bettering the Harrisburg community through involvement with nonprofit groups,” Scarnati said in a statement today. “I am confident that he will bring good perspective and strong leadership to the ICA.”

Scarnati’s spokesperson said Schankweiler came recommended by Harrisburg’s state senator, John DiSanto.

Now that the ICA is fully populated, its members can start the search for an executive director, who will draft an Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement with the city. They have a $100,000 budget to pay the director’s salary.

Once that agreement is in place, city officials can petition the state to release it from Act 47, the state oversight program for financially distressed municipalities.

From there, the ICA will work with local officials to adopt a five-year financial plan for the city. ICA will also review annual budgets and quarterly financial reports for the city through 2023.

The creation of the ICA was one of the terms of legislation signed this October by Gov. Tom Wolf, which allows Harrisburg to exit the Act 47 state oversight program while retaining its current taxing authority for five years.

The ICA will dissolve when Harrisburg’s taxing authority expires at the end of 2023.

Appointing power to the ICA lies with five members of state government: the governor, president pro tempore of the Senate, minority leader of the Senate, speaker of the House and minority leader of the House.

The appointees serve five-year terms, but can be replaced if there’s electoral turnover among the appointing authorities, Harrisburg city solicitor Neil Grover told TheBurg this fall.

The state secretary of the budget and Harrisburg’s finance director will also sit on the board as non-voting members.

Appointees must live or own a business in the city and must have financial management experience. They cannot work for the state or local government.

This story was edited to add that Schankweiler was recommended to Scarnati by Sen. John DiSanto.

Furloughed? Little Amps offers free coffee to unpaid federal workers.

January 23, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

The sign outside Little Amps on State Street.

A month into a partial federal government shutdown, many furloughed workers are beginning to wonder how they’re going to pay their bills.

In Harrisburg, there’s at least one expense they won’t have to worry about—their coffee tab.

Little Amps Coffee Roasters announced today that they’ll provide one free, 12-ounce coffee per day to furloughed federal workers for the duration of the shutdown.

“We’ve been hearing a lot of fed-up talk from federal workers who come to our shops, and so we’re doing our little bit to help out,” said owner Aaron Carlson.

About 800,000 workers have received no pay since Dec. 22 due to an impasse over funding for a border wall demanded by the Trump administration. Roughly 380,000 have been furloughed, while 420,000, deemed “essential,” are working without pay.

The free coffee applies to both, Carlson said, and is available at all three Little Amps shops in Harrisburg. Workers will need to show their federal IDs to get the gratis joe.

Carlson noted that Little Amps is in the business of both selling coffee and fostering community. Indeed, many locals regard Little Amps shops as something of a second office, where work is conducted and meetings held.

“Who knows, maybe a furloughed worker affected by the shutdown can meet someone in the same boat or maybe someone looking for temporary help,” Carlson said.

Little Amps Coffee Roasters is located at 1836 Green St., 133 State St. and inside Strawberry Square, all in Harrisburg. For more information, visit their website.

Mayor seeks new contract, broader goals for 2019 lobbying efforts.

January 23, 2019 | by Lizzy Hardison

Harrisburg solicitor Neil Grover and mayor Eric Papenfuse appeared alongside Ray Zaborney and Krystjan Callahan of Maverick Strategies at a City Council work session on Tuesday, Jan. 22.

Harrisburg’s mayor credits a local lobbying firm with helping the city chart a path out of Act 47 last fall, and now wants to retain the firm under a new agreement with a broader scope of work.

Harrisburg’s current $60,000, one-year contract with lobbying firm Maverick Strategies is set to expire at the end of January. In 2018, the firm helped the city secure bi-partisan support for legislation that will let Harrisburg exit Act 47, Pennsylvania’s financial oversight program, while retaining its current taxing authority for five years.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse is asking council to authorize a one-year extension of Maverick’s contract. Council already approved $60,000 for the agreement in the 2019 municipal budget.

Papenfuse explained to council last night that the legislation passed by state lawmakers in October is only the first hurdle in a long financial recovery process. In order to clear challenges that lie ahead, he said, Harrisburg should have a lobbyist on retainer.

For instance, Papenfuse said, the legislation that Gov. Tom Wolf signed for Harrisburg in October doesn’t include any provisions governing the state’s annual $5 million allocation to the city for fire and emergency services.

That figure is a perennial bargaining chip during the state’s budget negotiations, and city officials say Harrisburg can’t balance its books without it.

“Every year, it seem that $5 million is used as a political football,” Papenfuse said. “If we have Maverick on retainer, we can address any last-minute attempts to zero out the $5 million. If we don’t have them on retainer, we won’t be able to react quickly.”

He also wants Maverick to guide Harrisburg through the next steps of its financial recovery as outlined in the October legislation: adopting a five-year financial plan and working with a newly created Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, a five-member board that will oversee the city’s finances.

Papenfuse sees one other area where Maverick can exert pressure on state authorities: guiding Harrisburg through negotiations with PennDOT, which must approve the city’s infrastructure plans under its Vision Zero project – a long-term initiative to eliminate pedestrian fatalities across the city.

Among the projects that need state approval are the proposed “road diet” on upper State Street, which would eliminate traffic lanes and establish sheltered bike lanes, and the implementation of pedestrian improvements on Forster Street.

Both accident-prone roads are owned by the commonwealth and heavily trafficked by commuters.

Harrisburg officials have also pushed back against PennDOT’s proposal to widen I-83 to 12 lanes, saying it would increase congestion and eliminate taxable real estate.

“I think that we are moving towards a series of potential confrontations with PennDOT,” Papenfuse said. “These are political issues that would benefit a lobbyist assisting us, and they’re critical to the city’s future development.”

Papenfuse said Maverick can also help Harrisburg secure competitive state infrastructure grants, which could be instrumental to capital improvement projects under its new, five-year financial plan.

After the mayor and Maverick’s owners addressed city council last night, President Wanda Williams expressed disappointment that Maverick had not delivered quarterly reports to council over the last year.

“if you’re going to be a liaison for the city, you need to keep this council updated on what you’re doing and how you’re accomplishing it,” Williams said. “You’re asking for a contract, but I have no idea what your accomplishments were [or] how you did it.”

Maverick founder Ray Zaborney told Williams he happily would appear before council quarterly to provide progress reports. He also defended his firm’s record of advancing Harrisburg’s interests.

Zaborney and Papenfuse pointed out that Harrisburg was in a bleak position last summer after House Speaker Mike Turzai blocked a provision for Harrisburg from coming up for a vote in the state budget.

Building bi-partisan support for legislation that temporarily protected Harrisburg’s controversial tax rates was no small feat, Zaborney said.

“We’ve moved the city on a path out of Act 47,” he said. “I feel confident to say, without us, your taxing authority would have not been extended. It was hard to get it extended with us.”

Papenfuse said this morning that Maverick agreed to alter its contract with the city to require quarterly reporting and monthly, itemized invoices for services rendered.

Council’s next legislative session is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 6 p.m. in city hall.

Appointment of new Harrisburg School Board member headed to county judge.

January 22, 2019 | by Lizzy Hardison

The next member of the Harrisburg school board will likely be chosen by a Dauphin County judge, as board directors tonight were once again unable to decide between two candidates vying for a vacant seat.

Resuming a process that it tabled last week, the board split 4-4 on a decision tonight to appoint either Cornelius Chachere or Ralph Rodriguez to fill the seat formerly held by Melvin Wilson, who died unexpectedly last month.

The board conducted two rounds of voting tonight, but the results both times were the same. Board directors Carrie Fowler, Brian Carter, Judd Pittman and Ellis Roy supported Chachere, a non-profit professional and former substitute teacher at Sci-Tech High School.

Board president Danielle Robinson, vice president Lola Lawson and directors Patricia Whitehead-Myers and Lionel Gonzalez voted for Rodriguez, a Harrisburg High School graduate and father of five.

Pennsylvania School Code states that vacant seats must be filled by a majority vote among remaining members of a school board. Since eight members remain after Wilson’s death, a new candidate needs five votes to secure a seat.

State law gives the board 30 days to fill a vacancy. Wilson died on Dec. 16, and Chachere and Rodriguez first appeared before the board on Jan. 16 to declare their candidacies and sit for interviews.

But with Gonzalez absent from the appointment meeting, only seven members were present to cast votes.

The board split 4-3 in favor of Chachere, with Robinson, Whitehead-Myers and Lawson in the minority.

Even though he got support from the majority of voting members, Chachere still needed five votes to take the seat, said school solicitor Samuel Cooper.

Cooper reaffirmed his reading of School Code tonight, and said that the Pennsylvania School Board Association agreed with his judgement.

The board tabled the decision last week and put it on the agenda for this week’s regular meeting. But since neither candidate got the necessary five votes tonight, district residents have the power to petition the Court of Common Pleas to fill the seat.

Section 315 of Pennsylvania School Code says that, if the board has not filled a vacancy in 30 days, 10 residents can petition the court to fill the seat with “a suitable person” who lives in the district.

Cooper said tonight that residents can submit any candidate on their petition, including those who did not appear before the board to apply for the seat.

After the board reached another impasse tonight, Robinson proposed re-opening the field to applicants, in hopes of finding one a majority of the board could support.

But her colleagues voted 5-3 in an informal vote against Robinson’s proposal.

Based on the process outlined in School Code, however, it’s unclear whether the board could have forestalled a court appointment, given the time that has elapsed since Wilson’s death.

Kia Hansard, a founding member of the citizen-led school reform group CATCH (Concerned About the Children of Harrisburg) said tonight that she and other citizens plan to petition the court to appoint Chachere.

She said she can easily muster the 10 signatures required by state law.

Harrisburg U takes prime space in Whitaker Center for new student center

January 22, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

Whitaker Center in downtown Harrisburg

Harrisburg University is spreading out once again, this time expanding into space in Whitaker Center for a new student center.

Beginning Feb. 1, HU will lease about 7,000 square feet of space on the top floor, arcade level of the Harsco Science Center, now occupied by KidsPlace, a longstanding activity and exhibit area for children.

“Harrisburg University for Science and Technology is growing rapidly, having already established itself both locally and internationally as a first class STEM University,” said HU President Eric Darr, in a statement. “It is only fitting that we would partner with Whitaker Center to provide our students with first class space in an outstanding STEM setting for them to gather and further their learning.”

HU plans to open its student center following a full renovation of the space, which will be funded by the university. It has essentially run out of room at its main academic building on Market Street.

HU’s new student center will take up about 5 percent of Whitaker Center, which totals about 130,000 square feet. HU also leases space in the basement of Whitaker Center for its e-sports program and sometimes uses Whitaker theaters for e-sports tournaments.

Whitaker Center debuted as an arts and science venue in downtown Harrisburg in 1999.

Current exhibits on the arcade level will be moved to locations throughout the science center, according to Whitaker Center. To facilitate the move, KidsPlace will close entirely from Jan. 28 to 31.

For the past few years, HU has taken up increasing amounts of space downtown. Several old office buildings have been renovated for student housing and, in 2017, HU purchased office space at 225 Market St. from Whitaker Center. Then, last year, it bought land at the corner of S. 3^rd and Chestnut streets for a new, 19-story academic tower and hotel.

For its part, Whitaker Center said it plans to reimagine the science center, seeking to better use the space and bring in new exhibits. It also hopes to expose more young people to the facility.

“For 20 years, Whitaker Center has been a cultural resource for the Harrisburg region, and collaborating with Harrisburg University builds on our core mission as a community hub for learning and creativity,” said CEO Ted Black. “This lease arrangement gives us an opportunity to attract the next generation of young professionals who will help shape the community, giving these young minds a first-hand understanding of the critical role the center plays in our community’s cultural enrichment.”

Impasse over Public Works building continues, as Harrisburg asks court to withhold judgment on civil suit.

January 18, 2019 | by Lizzy Hardison

image of Public Works Department building, located at former Brenner autodealership

Harrisburg has not paid rent to the owner of its Paxton Street public works headquarters since 2017.

Harrisburg officials want to keep fighting a civil suit that seeks to eject the city’s Public Works Department from its headquarters on Paxton Street, even though it has not paid rent to the building’s owner in more than a year.

On Wednesday, the city’s law bureau asked a Dauphin County judge to delay awarding judgments in favor of Michael Brenner, owner of the property at 1802 Paxton St. that houses Harrisburg’s public works department.

Brenner brought a civil suit against Harrisburg in October, accusing the city of breach of contract and trespassing. He says Harrisburg stopped making the $16,000 monthly rent payment on the building in 2017 and continues to occupy it illegally.

The suit came weeks after Harrisburg City Council authorized the use of eminent domain proceedings to acquire Brenner’s property.

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse has said the Paxton Street property is the only suitable site in the city to house the department, since the former car dealership is located outside of a flood plain and can store heavy equipment.

City officials began negotiating a sale with Brenner in 2017, but Papenfuse said this summer that they reached an impasse when Brenner demanded an inflated price.

Papenfuse said the city stopped paying rent on the building shortly thereafter, but intends to pay him what he’s owed when the city acquires the property.

Council authorized the eminent domain proceedings in August.

In October, Brenner asked the courts to eject Harrisburg from the Paxton Street property, which has served as its public works facility since 2014. He also seeks more than $700,000 in unpaid rent, real estate taxes, repairs and court fees.

Since the initial complaint was filed on Oct. 20, the city’s law bureau has filed one response to Brenner’s allegations in addition to the motion to postpone judgements.

According to Brenner’s lawyer, neither document provides a substantive legal justification for staying in the property without paying rent.

“There really is no good rationale I’ve heard,” attorney Adam Klein said. “This is money that’s owed to us… [and] I don’t know what they would come up with as a reason for why they can squat on the property.”

The suit against Harrisburg listed more than a dozen complaints, including that the city failed to pay real estate taxes and rent on the building starting in 2017 and failed to reimburse Brenner for roof repairs.

All actions violate the terms of the city’s lease, the suit says, making the city’s continued presence at the Paxton Street property an act of trespassing.

Klein said that Harrisburg’s law bureau offered “general denial” to many of the complaint’s allegations. Absent substantial evidence or rationale, civil court procedures allow a judge to interpret a general denial as an admission, Klein said.

As a result, Klein petitioned the court in December to make a judgment in his client’s favor.

“It’s clear we’re entitled to relief, so going through the dog and pony show is really a waste of everyone’s time if we’re owed for judgment,” Klein said, noting that Brenner does not seek any punitive damages in the case.

But Harrisburg’s law bureau asked the judge on Wednesday to delay the judgment and allow both parties to keep litigating the case.

If the judge complies, both parties will submit briefs and could be called to make oral arguments.

While the city admits that it stopped paying rent to Brenner, it denies that it breached the terms of its lease.

The city also disputes its responsibility to reimburse Brenner for roof repairs, and, moreover, argues that a municipality can’t be ejected from a building it’s using to perform a public service.

The city has not initiated eminent domain proceedings to acquire the building, nor has it resumed negotiations with Brenner to purchase the building outright, deputy city solicitor Tiffanie Baldock said today.

Baldock otherwise declined to comment on the ongoing litigation against the city.

Klein doesn’t dispute the city’s right to seize his client’s property by eminent domain, as long as it pays a fair price.

He also said it’s normal for property owners to fight eminent domain proceedings as they jockey for a better settlement value.

But he doesn’t see any legal justification for withholding rent just because his client stalled a real estate transaction.

“If I were a property owner looking to lease property to the city, I would look at this and be very hesitant to do so,” Klein said. “This is not a good precedent for any city to set.”

Brawl at Harrisburg High stemmed from “misunderstanding,” will not affect new police partnership.

January 17, 2019 | by Lizzy Hardison

Harrisburg City School District spokeswoman Kirsten Keys, acting principal Sieta Achampong, and academy director Keith Edmonds spoke with reporters this morning about a student fight earlier in the week.

Harrisburg school district officials today said that a misunderstanding between students triggered the brawl that drew police to John Harris High School on Monday, resulting in three student arrests and multiple suspensions.

Administrators also said that the incident would not jeopardize a new community policing partnership, which they jointly announced with the Harrisburg Police Bureau on Friday.

Principal on Assignment Sieta Achampong spoke to reporters at a press conference at the school today, where she dispelled rumors that Monday’s fight was a result of racial tensions between Puerto Rican and African American students.

“We have had issues in the past on the campus and even in some elementary and middle schools with different races, but this was not a race relations fight,” Achampong said. “We had students of the same cultural group fighting one another, so it was not a race fight. It just happened to be perceived as such.”

Achampong and other administrators planned to address these questions at a community forum tonight at John Harris, but it has been postponed to an undetermined date due to inclement weather.

The district’s ongoing internal investigation has revealed that the fight began after a group of students believed they were being secretly recorded by their peers, Achampong said. That escalated into a fight among female students, she said, before male students joined the fray.

Achampong said the district has proof that the students who thought they were being videotaped were mistaken and called the incident precipitating the fight “a big misunderstanding.”

Nonetheless, it did draw police from three agencies to the high school campus on Market Street, where officers used pepper spray to quell the fighting students. One student was arrested for resisting arrest and punching an officer.

It was the first time that Harrisburg police responded to an incident on a school campus since Friday, when district and police leaders announced a new “open door policy” for officers across the district.

Until recently, officers had to follow the same visitor policy as members of the public, arranging school visits with advance notice and permission from district officials.

Now, they can enter school buildings any time they want to talk to students about public safety. Achampong said today that district Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney will release more information about the community policing partnership in the near future, but it appears the open-door policy for officers is still in place.

Officers have visited the school campus since Monday to engage students, and both Achampong and district spokeswoman Kirsten Keys said that officers are still welcome in all school buildings.

Achampong confirmed that three students were arrested on Monday, and an unknown number were also issued citations.

The district is still reviewing witness statements and security footage as part of its own investigation into the incident, which could result in in-house disciplinary action against students.

The brawl on Monday was the school’s first major behavioral incident all year, Achampong said. She said the school had experienced a period of relative peace thanks to consistent discipline and engagement with students and parents.

She also said that several students prone to fighting “are no longer with the district,” but declined to say how many had been suspended or expelled.

“We as a team of administrators, with our teachers and counselors, are working hard to be consistent,” Achampong said. “We’re trying our best to be consistent, to follow up, and set expectations and let children know we’re going to follow through.”

Since this summer, Achampong has split her time between Sci-Tech High School, where she technically works full-time as principal, and John Harris High, where she serves as a “principal on assignment” four days out of the week.

Achampong was assigned duties at John Harris this summer after former Principal Lisa Love was put on leave and later reassigned pending an investigation into grading procedures.

District officials could not say on Thursday whether a full-time principal would be assigned to the building following Monday’s incident. Achampong will continue to spend four days a week at John Harris and one day at Sci-Tech, she said.

The principal position is not advertised on the district’s online job board. Knight-Burney was unable to comment on principal staffing through a spokeswoman on Thursday.

Weekend Roundup with Sara Bozich

January 17, 2019 | by Sara Bozich

Happy Weekend!

Day 8 hostage situation. My poor kiddo has an ear infection, so I’ve been not just stuck at home, but literally attached to him for much of the time. So I was all like, I’m gonna need some ALONE time on Saturday, but now it looks like quite a bit of snow! In lieu of shopping for my home office renovation, it looks like winter storm prep (cooking, popcorn, Netflix, right?).

That said, the usual, watch social media for updates on all the below events. If they’re canceled, they’ll let ya know! Be safe. Oh, and for you Midtowners, enjoy your Snow Day HQ: ZerØday.

What are you doing this weekend?

(more…)

Harrisburg School Board delays decision on new member.

January 16, 2019 | by Lizzy Hardison

The Harrisburg school board on Wednesday night booted a decision to appoint a new member until next week, as its members were unable to summon a majority vote for either of the two candidates vying for an empty seat.

The board held a special meeting to appoint a replacement for school board director Melvin Wilson, who died unexpectedly last month.

State law gives the board 30 days to fill a vacancy. Three hopefuls applied for Wilson’s seat, and two of them– Cornelius Chachere and Ralph Rodriguez – were interviewed by board members tonight in front an audience of two dozen people. (A third applicant did not attend the meeting.)

The board reached a stalemate when it came time to cast votes, since board director Lionel Gonzalez was absent, leaving only seven board members to participate in the appointment process.

Chachere secured four votes to Rodriguez’s three. But according to solicitor Samuel Cooper, a new member must be appointed by a majority of the whole board – in this case, five out of eight seated members.

School board policy does state that any new member must be appointed “by a majority vote of the remaining members of the Board.”

But state law, which trumps local board policy, is more ambiguous.

Section 315 of the Pennsylvania school code says only that a vacancy must be filled by a “majority” vote by the board. It does not specify either a majority of the remaining board members, or majority of those present for voting.

The board held three rounds of voting, but the results were the same each time: president Danielle Robinson, vice president Lola Lawson, and board director Patricia-Whitehead Myers cast votes for Rodriguez. Board directors Carrie Fowler, Judd Pittman, Brian Carter and Ellis Roy threw their support behind Chachere.

The stalemate was the latest display of acrimony from the factious board, which splits along the same allegiances on most major personnel and policy actions.

When it became clear that neither candidate would receive a majority of the board’s votes, Whitehead-Myers motioned to move the table the appointment until the board’s regular meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 22.

Since her motion was procedural, it only needed a majority vote from present board members. It passed with support from Robinson, Roy and Lawson.

If neither candidate receives five votes on Tuesday, the matter will likely go before the Court of Common Pleas, Cooper said.

Ten district residents can petition to court to fill the vacancy with a qualified candidate if the board does not do so within 30 days.

Members of the citizen-led school reform group CATCH (Concerned About the Children of Harrisburg) made clear that their support for Chachere, and said they were willing to petition the court to appoint him.

Chachere appeared before the board twice this summer to apply for vacant seats.

The nonprofit executive and former SciTech High School substitute teacher got the endorsement of the Harrisburg Education Association teachers union in June, when he applied for the seat that ultimately went to Whitehead-Myers.

The second time Chachere applied for a board seat, in August 2018, he received a standing ovation from dozens of audience members. But the board voted 5-4 to appoint Lawson, a past board president, instead.

Like his opponent, Rodriguez fielded questions from board members for about 10 minutes, detailing his motivations for a pursuing a board seat and what his priorities would be during the one-year term.

Rodriguez did not speak about his work or professional qualifications during questioning, but did say he was a Harrisburg High School graduate with children in the district.

As in past selection meetings, board members did not share the rationale for their individual votes.

The board will reconvene on Tuesday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. in the Lincoln Administration Building for its regular January meeting.

This article was edited to clarify that Rodriguez was not questioned about his occupation or professional background during his interview by school board directors. Resumes and application materials the candidates submitted for the board’s consideration were not made public.

Harrisburg schools open doors to police officers under new partnership.

January 11, 2019 | by Lizzy Hardison

Leaders from the Harrisburg City School District and Harrisburg Police Bureau pose after the press conference where they announced their new partnership.

Thanks to a new partnership with district leadership, Harrisburg’s police officers now have an open-door invitation to enter Harrisburg city schools.

Officials from the school district and police bureau convened a press conference this morning to announce a formalized partnership that they hope will bolster safety, community relations and career readiness in Harrisburg’s 13 elementary, middle and high schools.

The police officers won’t have permanent stations in the school buildings, as they did under the school resource officer (SRO) program that ran until 2009.

Instead, officers will be able to freely enter school buildings to talk to students about public safety, community service and career preparation.

Officials made clear today that the emphasis of the new partnership is improving community relations with the police, not punishing students.

“We are not here to give out any criminal charges or to arrest any kids,” police Commissioner Thomas Carter said. “We’re here to be a resource and a positive role model for the students.”

When funding for the SRO program dried up in 2009, it left the district without a codified relationship with the police bureau.

Keeping with state law, the police enter an annual memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the district, establishing procedures for police response to incidents on school campuses.

Absent an emergency incident, however, police officers had to follow the district’s standard visitor policy to enter school buildings, arranging visits ahead of time with the permission of administrators.

That will change under the new partnership. Harrisburg police officers may now enter school buildings at any time to visit classrooms or socialize with students during breaks.

Officials hope that more spontaneous interactions with the city’s youth will foster a positive image of law enforcement.

“When students see a police car outside the school, it’s negative – they think something bad has happened,” Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney said. “That’s why this partnership is important.”

Capt. Gabriel Olivera said that the police bureau does not currently have the manpower to launch a new SRO program. But neither the police nor the school district is ruling it out in the future, he said.

“This partnership is a good starting point, and, if at some point in the future, both entities decide [to welcome SROs,] then that would be possible,” he said.

The new partnership does not require a written agreement or any funding, so it did not need the approval of the Harrisburg school board.

The school board turned down proposals for a school resource officer program in 2015 and 2016, according to news reports, after Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse offered to provide funding for a one-year pilot program.

Papenfuse was not present for today’s announcement.

Many district parents also objected to the proposed police presence in schools, fearing it would lead to arrests or use of force against students.

Knight-Burney said today that school climates have changed in recent years amid a series of high-profile school shooting incidents, including a 2017 shooting in a Parkland, Fla., high school that left 17 dead.

She said that a conversation with Parkland’s superintendent helped her see the importance of law enforcement partnerships.

“Part of what we talked about is how to have relationships where we’re not reactive, but where we build a foundation of communication so, when things like that happen, we have plans in place,” Knight-Burney said.

She added that a recent spate of gang violence among high-schoolers and middle-schoolers highlighted the need for a stronger police presence.

Under the leadership of Cpl. Josh Hammer and community policing coordinator Blake Lynch, Harrisburg’s five-member community policing unit began making inroads with the school district this fall, when they started hosting ice cream socials with elementary school students.

The success of those events led to the new open-door policy, Lynch said today.

He hopes to see officers in at least one school building every day under the new partnership, talking to students about topics such as social media, gun safety, drugs and alcohol and community involvement.

The police bureau also hopes it can solve some of its staffing woes by recruiting students from the city’s high schools. They plan on marketing their Cadet Program, which can reimburse new recruits for college costs if they pass consortium testing and take a policing job in Harrisburg.

“When students start to see police not in a negative light but in a positive light, they may start to see themselves as future police officers,” city council public safety chair Ausha Green said.

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