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DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — At Tuesday night’s Central Dauphin School Board (CDSD) meeting, East High senior Brady Domingos was the only student to take to the podium to share his experience of the school going on lockdown after another student brought a gun to school.
“This was traumatic for many of my fellow students, teachers, school administration, school counselors and law enforcement,” he said. “There’s no telling what might have happened on that given day.”
Brady was one of the hundreds of kids who were inside the high school when a student brought a gun into the school, sending everyone into lockdown.
“I was in the basement of the school,” Brady said. “I didn’t know that there were cops, I know we have our school officers but I didn’t know we had the CD police, I didn’t know we had the state troopers, I didn’t know we had the dogs, I didn’t know we had any of that.”
He came to the board to address his concerns and provide possible avenues forward to making the district safer.
“Another way to prevent an incident like this is to increase security, not in the form of more cops and guns, but increasing the locks and entry control into the building,” Brady said while addressing board members.
Board members did vote to approve the purchase of a StudentSafe Threat Management Software, which was an item already on the agenda before the incident on February 15.
“It is to track students who are at a potential to cause harm to themselves or a potential to cause harm to others,” CDSD Superintendent Aaron McConnell explained to the board and others in attendance.
The system tracks student behavior and helps support their well-being, a measure Brady says should be prioritized. It would cost the district $24,100, paid for by grant money in its first year.
While Brady’s lone voice might help make the change, he hopes others step up and demand it.
“I think just having one student speak up will give them that cue that if he can speak up so maybe I should speak up,” Brady said.
