Parents blast school board after man gets into girls’ bathroom
By Jennifer Borrasso
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MONROEVILLE, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — Parents and Gateway school administrators met to discuss how a man got into an elementary school and made his way to a girls’ bathroom, where he allegedly stayed for about 40 minutes and may have recorded girls using the restroom.
Gateway’s superintendent confirmed a second Ramsey Elementary student was in the girls’ bathroom when the suspect entered the school last Tuesday instead of one student like they originally thought.
On Tuesday night, parents blasted the school board a week after police said 26-year-old Brian Mintmier allegedly lied his way into Ramsey Elementary in Monroeville, went to a girls’ bathroom, stayed for 40 minutes and recorded a 10-year-old student.
“As a parent of a third grader who does not sleep at night, who does have a therapist through the school district, that is still sacred to go to school, we got to do better,” said one parent.
Parents accused the school of a “communication problem,” saying they didn’t know what was happening. They questioned why the school wasn’t put on lockdown.
Before the meeting, the superintendent sat down with KDKA’s Jennifer Borrasso. He said on the day of the incident, a school resource officer worked a half day. Another district employee in the main office took over. The suspect came to the main entrance, asked to use the bathroom and the employee broke protocol, allowing him in.
Red boxes are used to scan licenses but that didn’t happen. The superintendent said Mintmier was escorted to the corner of the hallway, then the employee returned to the front door waiting for him to return. At one point, she got another employee to look for the suspect. They assumed he left.
“Poor decision making. I’m angered by it. Disappointed. I feel for the students and parents at Ramsey,” said Superintendent Dr. William Short.
Short confirms they believe there were two elementary students in the bathroom.
“We believe one was in there and perhaps another came in once the other was leaving,” he said.
Short said they now have a full-time school police officer at Ramsey. Short said within the district’s six buildings, there are nine officers.
“We originally had 15 school police officers. We are currently down to nine. We are actively always pursuing any available individuals who may want to join our police force,” he said.
The district is getting the state police to assess the security of the building. The employee who allowed the suspect access is still on leave pending an investigation.
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