By Tarny Linder

INDIANA, Pa. – Indiana School District officials on Monday night approved contracts with new principal at Eisenhower Elementary School for a resource officer.

Marilyn Walther began in 2018 as principal at Eisenhower Elementary School.

The board also approved a contract with Indiana County for one of the county’s police officers to serve as a school resource officer.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said board president Walter Schroth. “At this time, a relationship between the police and the community has never been more important.”

Schroth said after the meeting that the district will pay Indiana County based on a percentage of the officer’s salary. The officer will begin in the fall, but has not been identified yet, he said.

“This person’s not going to be a hall monitor,” Schroth said. “There is so much more to the job than that.”

In other school news, the board was informed that Indiana Area Junior High School is set to hold a career fair for seventh graders Thursday morning. There is scheduled to be 35 local professionals. The middle school’s counseling department invited the school board in a letter.

Former Steelers wide receiver Justin Thomas will also be attending the event, and will deliver a speech to the students, those of who will then interact with different professionals and learn about different careers.

At the beginning of the meeting, Schroth presented board and staff members with student artwork in honor of School Board Recognition Week. The students who created the artwork are William Kelly, Logan Howard, Maura Paez, Stephanie Vinson, Shana Grosch, Aaron Crawford Mark Blake, Rachel Flaig, Matt Niel, Jess Yuhasz, Jarrod Browne and Joesph Grundy.