Safer Fayetteville donates $195,000; board approves alert-badge contract and metal detectors

Members of the community group Safer Fayetteville attended the Fayetteville Public Schools Board meeting April 24 and presented a donation to help the district buy a new alert-badge system and hardware the district plans to deploy at secondary campus main entrances.

Savannah Connor, speaking for Safer Fayetteville, introduced the group and said the organization had raised funds to support campus safety purchases. Connor said the donation amount was $195,000.

Superintendent Doctor Mulford described the planned purchases: a five-year agreement for an alert-badge system called Syntegix, for which the district had received a state grant that covered roughly two-thirds of the contract cost; the remainder would be covered in part by Safer Fayetteville’s donation. Mulford told the board the district would reallocate some originally earmarked funds and that Safer Fayetteville would present a check that night. Mulford also said the district would use funds to pilot metal detectors at main entrances of its seventh-through-twelfth-grade campuses and at large evening events.

The purchases were on the consent agenda. A board member moved to approve the consent agenda, a second followed, and the board approved the motion 6–0. The transcript records: "Motion carries 6 to 0." The district will finalize vendor contracts and begin implementation planning under the five-year agreement.

No board member expressed a motion to withhold approval during the meeting. The Syntegix contract was described as a five-year agreement; the grant covers about two-thirds of the cost and Safer Fayetteville’s donation covers most of the remaining balance, according to district remarks.