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Jewish Schools Near Tree Of Life Seek Public Grants For Security

Keith Srakocic
/
AP
This file photo from Feb. 11, 2019 shows a temporary barrier around the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh where 11 people were killed and seven others injured during an attack on in October of 2018.

Students and staff members at Jewish day schools near the Pittsburgh synagogue that was the site of October's mass shooting are asking state lawmakers for help paying for security measures.

They went to Pennsylvania's Capitol on Tuesday along with delegations from other cities around the state to meet with lawmakers about including non-public schools in a year-old $60 million school security grant program.

The state program was spurred by last year's high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people.

Jewish day school parents and staffers say they're particularly alarmed after synagogue shootings in Pittsburgh and, more recently, in California.

Samara Sofian is director of development for the Silver Academy in Harrisburg. She says that parents are asked to pay a security fee that rises every year but that it doesn't go far enough.