MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The Berkeley County Schools Board of Education voted Oct. 6 to award a funded contract to DATAMARK to create standardized school-safety mapping in order to comply with West Virginia House Bill 3166 and related state code.

Melissa Holland presented the procurement and explained the legal requirement and technical criteria. The legislation requires counties to create standardized school mapping data by Sept. 1, 2026 that can integrate with local public-safety software and be shared with law enforcement, EMS and the State Board of Education. Holland told the board the district sought demonstrations from three vendors and worked closely with the county 9-1-1 director and Sheriff Blair; both wrote formal recommendation letters for DATAMARK.

Holland said DATAMARK’s product "integrates the best with our local law enforcement services software" and noted the company’s bid was the lowest of the three evaluated, about $3,635 per school; the award to DATAMARK for the full scope was presented as $123,572.66 and will be submitted for state grant reimbursement allocated at up to $4,500 per school.

Board members asked about data security and access. Holland said the maps "are, secured digitally and by their company, and we will have rights to them. We would have 2 main administrators of each mapping system. We can have multiple users and viewers, but we can only have 2 people that can make adjustments to them." She also noted that Jefferson County recently approved DATAMARK, which would help interoperability for first responders across county lines.

A motion to award the contract to DATAMARK for the funded mandate was approved by the board. The vote was recorded as "motion carries" in the meeting minutes; the board directed staff to apply for the state grant support as soon as possible.