Nash County schools seek SRO expansion, Evolve metal‑detector purchases and lockset upgrades as safety asks

Nash County Public Schools officials outlined a package of security measures on May 14 that would expand officer coverage and install screening and locking technology at schools.

Associate Superintendent Leon Desferra Jr. said the district received a safety grant that offsets part of School Resource Officer (SRO) costs but that additional local funding would be required to staff SROs for every school.

"The grant is a 4 to 1 match," Desferra said, describing the state grant awarded through a center for safer schools; he said the grant averaged about $44,000 per SRO while the district would cover roughly $11,000 per officer under that model.

Nut graf: District staff presented estimates for multiple items: the cost to staff additional elementary and middle‑school SROs, the purchase price to buy second‑generation Evolve screening machines for elementary schools, and an ongoing program to install classroom QID locksets. Officials said the Evolve purchase is an exact quote and lockset installation is already underway at several schools.

Details: Desferra presented a recent award of roughly $484,000 tied to SRO staffing (elementary and middle placements) and said the district’s estimate for full SRO coverage across elementary, middle and high schools could exceed $1.7 million in total annual costs; a full‑time SRO at every school was estimated at about $2.1 million. The district showed an exact quote of $995,593.20 to purchase 12 single‑lane Evolve machines for elementary schools (generation‑2 units) and said upgrades to classroom locksets (removing wooden door stops in favor of QID locks) are in progress, with some elementary schools already outfitted and completion planned in August.

District safety also described Lightspeed monitoring (a technology that flags messages with self‑harm or violent content) and said the system produced an after‑hours alert that led to a timely principal and family response.

Commissioner questions: Commissioners asked about cameras in classrooms (vendor Cloud12) and about monitoring protocols for Evolve screening. District staff said classroom‑camera pilots were under discussion mainly as an instructional observation tool and that Evolve monitoring is typically overseen by school front‑office staff with SRO involvement when alerts or incidents occur.

Ending: District officials asked the county to review the safety package and said they would provide cost breakdowns on request.