Michigan City Area Schools seeks roughly $3.3 million for security and cybersecurity upgrades

Michigan City Area Schools presented a proposed three-year program totaling roughly $3.3 million to expand physical security and cybersecurity measures across district buildings and to sustain makerspace and staff-development work funded earlier by the redevelopment commission.

The proposal, presented July 14 by Kevin McGuire, director of technology for Michigan City Area Schools, combines two tracks: physical security upgrades and cybersecurity defenses. McGuire said the district’s prior five-year program funded in part by the redevelopment commission created “innovation centers” in district buildings and substantial staff development; the new package would add visitor screening, mobile weapons-detection units for large venues, expanded video surveillance, an emergency-response sensor map (a Barker proof-of-concept), endpoint detection, firewalls and other cyber tools, plus student internship positions and ongoing training.

McGuire told the commission the district requested tools including an OpenGate portable weapons-detection unit and a suite of cybersecurity appliances and licenses and that the district had sought federal and state grants (including a COPS grant and the Indiana School Safety grant) to cover parts of the program. “The OpenGate solution is what we proposed to the COPS grant,” McGuire said, adding the unit is portable and can be redeployed to different sites. He framed the work as both physical safety measures (secured entries, video and door-alarm detection) and IT resilience (backups, endpoint protection, monitoring).

Commissioners and staff asked clarifying questions about visitor background checks (McGuire said the district runs a low-level background check on IDs presented at entries, primarily to screen for sex-offender registry hits or other flagged records and to let staff manage supervision), camera capabilities, and whether any ARPA funds had been used (McGuire said not specifically for the metal-detection or tech equipment). Commissioners sought details about timing and funding sources: McGuire said the district has applied for the COPS and Indiana School Safety grants and expects news in the coming weeks, and characterized the redevelopment commission request as the portion of the three-year program not covered by other grants or district funds.

Commissioner Clarence suggested the commission study the request and return with a clearer sense of the RDC’s available funding; the body agreed to bring the item back at its next meeting for further consideration. The commission did not take a funding vote July 14.