There were two uh township in the entire state of Pennsylvania that actually are the first round of recipients of the stop school violence at grants and lord middletown school is one of them. Um do the tremendous work that they do. They have great Grant writers um. I know that uh Brian runs unable to join us today but he did a great job with with Ken so I just wanna introduce a few people here. We have um We have the can cozy that officer Mike, we have Beth aldridge director of people, services of pennsbury school district recently, the director of secondary education of pennsbury michelle back who's the director of elementary education of pennsbury school district. Our bucks County sheriff and um just wanna explain a little bit so the stop school violence act was passed this year um as the way that um just another Grant program to try to um stem the tide of school violence and, as we all know across the country um our police officers are school teachers are Educators um are really really tough situation right now. Um giving the um the increased prevalence of violence and they really need help. They need help from from the community. They need help from the federal and state government as far as funny goes because, as as amazing as they are as dumb as public servants, um very, very qualified law enforcement officers, school teachers, they need financial assistance and that's really what this Grant program is about and I told the chief this is around one so this is gonna operation the faces we're thrilled that we Out of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania, we got one of the two grants for this first face. We hope that this is just phase one of this and we're gonna increase the uh the amount of grants um and I wanna I wanna complemented clues. You know he's um he's been doing a really really good job. You know, we have some allot of municipalities a lot of different police departments in this in this community and he's really really taking the lead in a lot of these areas, uh I've been on the forefront of public safety is develop the comprehensive emergency action plan and lower me feel township Ensuring that our emergency services possess the capability to rapidly respond to violent crime, natural disasters and, most importantly, to keep our kids safe and we must respond to the senseless violence occurring. Our children, schools and, after meeting with concerns students, parents and teachers. We all know that we all have a role to play to address this problem from all pressure, points to include the legislative component the mental health component and the school safety component and what this Grant is again it's phase one it's gonna be 60000 dollars federal Grant Department of education I'm sorry Department of Justice to the lower mayfield township police Department to bolster school security, educate students and faculty and support law enforcement officers and first responders and school safety and this Grant is just one way to make schools safer. Uv by delivering much needed federal support. Students, teachers and law enforcement need to work together to make sure that we have the resources to quickly respond to warning signs and, as I mentioned, lower mayfield is only one of two municipalities in the entire state of Pennsylvania to receive Grant funds from this years 20 eighteen cops school Prevention program and this year the program provided 70 million in grants throughout the country. Uh directly to States and local governments to improve security schools and on school grounds for evidence based program. So I wanna introduce chief cozy and we're also gonna have uh build a and Beth speak to us today. Thanks you well, thank you very much congressman. I really appreciate them having us here today and also all your support throughout the time that you've been in your position to help local law enforcement receive the vital When they needed to keep our school safe and also to provide technology for the schools so that they can monitor who's coming in and out of the schools and they can keep their students safe as well. Um this is a very difficult process when you apply for grants um you know it's highly competitive there's. Numerous police agencies throughout the country in the state that apply for grants and as again as Brian fitzpatrick I said um officer Mike pell and detective sergeant Brian or along with the cooperation from the school district, Beth aldridge, who provided tons of information for us to include in the Grant uh we're the ones that really successful in getting it and my applaud to to the officers and two bath and I'd like to have um doctor also come up because um all of my time here working with doctor, he has been very, very important and vital to of police and Safety function regarding the schools and very open and cooperative to our suggestions for the past several years. We have been entering all the lower make field pennsbury schools and providing of all ability assessments to the schools. We've been doing analysis of buildings, um. There policies in their procedures and as a result, major improvements have been implemented throughout the school district and um that doesn't happen unless you have the Operation of the people in charge the principles the leadership people, services all under the direction of the superintendent. So I'd like to thank him for his help and cooperation throughout the years and always remember that people in back of me by the people who are in the front lines and really deserve all the credit. So I'd like to introduce doctor, please So good afternoon and thank you for the invitation to be here. Um I've will feel alot of what I just heard from the congressman and the chief but I'm thinking about the importance of safety not just in schools but around all of our um large gathering places in our community. This past weekend, we had a terrible incident in Pittsburgh and I think we all mourn the the events that transpired this weekend we're angry about we're saddened by it um in our hearts obviously go out to the Pittsburgh community, but um All of the staff and pennsbury truly believe in the mission of our school district, public schools are one of the few place in society where people with differences come together everyday um and I believe firmly in um the initiation of public schools was to create an informed democracy and if we're gonna get beyond the hate speech and violence in our society is gonna happen in our schools right so, for our kids to be able to come to safe spaces, we can do a lot in terms of curriculum and try and help kids work through differences and not just tolerate differences but truly appreciate differences right. We work really hard Get on that, but we also recognize that in order to create those safe opportunities of safe spaces, we need more public support and the kind of support that we've received from the congressman um you know well. This Grant is fantastic. Um uh Ryan the reality is, I get videos all the time about the wonderful things you say down four um about pennsbury students and students and bucks County in general. You celebrate the success for our kids utter celebrated the success of one of our bus drivers. You have morning with us when we were all students um you've been a great support In terms of our mental health task force, um so to be able to partner with you in this way and receive the 60000 dollars. Um it's not a surprise to me because you've been with us every step along the way so, thank you for your constant support uh and, as chief he said, we're really proud of our partnerships. We have four different municipalities we're proud of our partnerships with all the police forces, but especially today our partnership with lower make um. I don't want to take any of the credit. You know I get to speak but I don't get to do a lot of the hard work it really the credit goes to bethel church in her partnerships with the police and so I'd like to thank that's for all of our service is the director of people services um and invite her to the Just to talk a little bit about the Grant process so thank you better So I want to begin by echoing um doctor appreciation for congressman fitzpatrick support of the pennsbury school district, I'd oop think we are very fortunate to have such a wonderful partnership with the lower make field township police and of course, the lower make field township supervisors as well um chief has been such an asset in a resource to our school district and of course, this Grant would not be possible without the excellent Grant writing, skills of officer pell and detective sergeant who came to Me well with this Grant in the summer and you know just said we need a couple pieces of information to do this and it is really their hard work that has lead to the district of receiving this Grant that will be used to increase um security equipment across the district and to improve security response communications across the district um it's very generous of them to have done all of this hard work and then to share it with the school district To keep our students and our staff as safe as possible so again, thanks to the congressman the chief and um the officers of lower make field township for this. Um wonderful Grant. Thank you, thanks Beth and I just wanna. I wanna say uh a couple of things about the lord mayfield township police Department at pennsbury school district um there's 54 minutes of parties in bucks County I'm not aware of a single police Department that is more on the forefront on the cutting edge of law enforcement and public safety and lower mayfield and that is it that is a fact um and pennsbury I talk about this everywhere. I go um when you talk about the addiction crisis we're facing as a community. Pennsbury and I always single out pennsbury and they get criticized when you leave the other school districts out. But pennsbury this is the fact that is taking a leadership role um in this area. They developed the task force we're getting into the school is very early um, educating kids not just in Middle school but in grade school the dangers of substance use disorder. De stigmatizing. It I'm talking about how important it is to have open and honest conversations about it and that's really that part of The school district um and the police Department that's really makes this entire community an extra special place to live. Um and it's because of the tremendous public service standing behind us. So um. I wanna thank you guys all good job on the Grant ready um and keep it up because this is going to be a periodic thing and I think that's important because federal funding is really important state funding is very important um. We could have the best teachers the best educators the best professionals the best law enforcement personnel in the world, but if they're not supported by government by funding programs that they need because state, local Governments are limited in their ability to fund and finance a lot of these programs. The federal government is gotta step off that's one of the things that the cops program does one of the intentions of the stop school violence act. Uh was to make sure that, as much of the funding that we can get to our communities as we can, is really important um this is a good start, but it's a start um and I plan on coming back shortly uh with more funding for not just lower make not just pennsbury but a lot of our school departments, school districts, police departments to make sure that you guys have the resources you need so thank you all for being here um and uh. I don't know if you have any Questions or do you have anyone here you're good alright. Thank you all for being here