HARRISBURG, Pa. - Several Jewish schools across Pennsylvania are asking state lawmakers for help when it comes to school safety.
The Silver Academy in Harrisburg is one of those schools asking for help. Students pay a yearly security fee, but it's not enough. The academy would like the state to allow non-public schools to have access to a $60 million school security grant program. Jewish schools across the state want access to this funding because they want extra security because of the rise in attacks against the Jewish community.
"There are a number of checkpoints and things like that for people to go through before they can even come up here," said Samara Sofian, Silver Academy Director of Development. "But there's unfortunately new and innovative ways to attack people if you want to attack them. So it's really important that we are constantly being as up to date as we possible can."
The academy was able to hire an armed security guard through a grant about three years ago. In the future, they hope to add security cameras, bulletproof protection on windows and update door security.