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AIU Spotlight: A Holistic Approach to School Security
AIU Spotlight: A Holistic Approach to School Security
By Dan Rinkus
The manner in which the Allegheny Intermediate Unit’s Director of Safety and Security, Aaron Skrbin, approaches his job is not through planning, technology or instruction. It’s much more personal.
“School safety starts with relationships. It starts with human interaction,” Skrbin said. “It starts with building a culture where people feel safe, or at least telling someone if they don’t feel safe.”
This humanistic approach to public safety is informed by his experience as an educator and first responder. “I take what goes on in the places that I’m working in personally,” said Skrbin. “It’s important to me.” discusses safety measures with Michael Hauser, Sto-Rox administrative advisor, and Timothy Liparulo, assistant principal of Sto-Rox Upper Elementary.
While the AIU is not regulatory, Skrbin provides a “road map” for districts to follow. Marrying advocacy with action, Skrbin helps school districts across Allegheny County plan for emergencies, takes stock of their facilities, and consults with them on everything from equipment to attitude.
“I provide a lot of training in the area of threat assessment teams, development, and tabletop exercises for schools to test emergency operation plans. I also serve as a liaison between all of the schools and the AIU to the County Emergency Operations Center and to state level agencies,” he said.
Skrbin also pushes state leaders in Harrisburg to make sure schools are safe, “talking to legislators, talking with schools, first responder agencies, whatever the case may be.”
Skrbin is a native of Wilkins Township, a graduate of Serra Catholic, and a volunteer firefighter. It runs in the family; Skrbin’s father was a firefighter, serving with Wilkins Township Volunteer Fire Company No. 3 for 60 years until his passing in 2009.
“I basically grew up in a fire station, and I also had a passion for history and that led me to education,” he explained. “I started my career as a social studies teacher and I became an assistant principal in the Woodland Hills School District.”
Skrbin earned his bachelor’s degree in education from Duquesne University, a master’s degree in public management and education leadership from Carnegie Mellon University, and is in the process of earning his doctorate of education from Liberty University. In 2005, he got his official start in school safety as an assistant high school principal at South Fayette Township School District. He was assigned responsibility for school safety during one of his first meetings with district administrators.
Over the next decade, he voluntarily worked with the AIU on school safety issues while educating himself through school district training sessions. The AIU didn’t have anyone specifically doing the work. Instead, it was reliant on a liaison with Allegheny County Emergency Services and a committee featuring Skrbin. “People would call the AIU for all their school safety and they would tell them to call me,” he recalled.
In 2019, the AIU created the job he now calls his own. It’s a perfect fit for Skrbin, who navigates the demands posed by educators, lawmakers and public safety officials.
“I’m basically helping schools get into compliance with state mandates, having an emergency operations plan in place, conducting training,” he explained.
Skrbin advises the AIU’s member school districts on metal detectors, security cameras and school resource officers (SROs). It reflects the reality of going to school in America right now. “When you talk about school safety, people automatically go right to active shooters,” said Skrbin. However, he says a school’s “vibe” is just as important as any preventative measures.
“The way your building works tells students how the community feels as well,” he explained. “If kids walk into a building that’s falling down, how do they feel? People don’t value it, and kids are verbalizing or internalizing that sentiment.”
As an example, Skrbin mentioned the Sto-Rox Junior/Senior High School hallway murals depicting the community history and some of the cultures that have inhabited the area around the school in McKees Rocks. He told the school’s leaders, “you’ve got to capitalize on that.”
“When I taught social studies at Woodland Hills 25 years ago, the community was and still is reeling from the decline of the steel industry,” he said. “During World War II, that Westinghouse plant employed 100,000 people. And that shut down.”
Skrbin would teach his Woodland Hills classes about the former Westinghouse plant in East Pittsburgh, now Keystone Commons, as an example of history sitting right down the street.
“When you think of those things in terms of helping to build pride within kids in their community, it goes a long way to developing a culture,” he said.
It’s that sense of community and a holistic approach to school safety and security that defines Skrbin’s approach to the role. “If you want to know if a school is safe or unsafe, look at how strong the relationships are in the building,” he said. “You start there. That’s the thing you work on the most.”
Read more from this issue: Fall 2023
