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Board hears safety plan updates; district reports DOJ grant denial and major facility needs
Summary
Administrators outlined the district's school safety planning, reunification procedures, MERT medical team expansion and more realistic drills; they also reported the DOJ COPS grant denial and cited an estimated $1 million middle‑school parking‑lot project and recurring camera replacement costs.
Administrators told the Greendale School District Board that safety planning remains a central, ongoing priority and outlined near‑term facility and training needs.
Mr. Lotus presented the annual safety report required under Act 143, describing standard response protocols, building safety checklists and the district’s reunification procedures developed with the Greendale Police and Fire departments. "We believe that safety planning is best served by a measured and continuous approach," he said, stressing coordination with local first responders and routine debriefs that produce a rolling project list of improvements.
The presentation described training for staff and substitutes (one‑ or two‑page location‑specific guidance), a district Prepare program template for crisis roles, behavior and threat‑management training for administrators, and the Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT), led by district nurse Kelly Kraninger. Kraninger and administrators said the district is moving to more realistic drills; one example simulated an allergic reaction in an empty cafeteria that triggered a MERT response and a coordinated follow‑up.
Administrators also outlined funding gaps. Jonathan reported the district did not receive the DOJ COPS grant it applied for and highlighted a long list of planned physical upgrades. He told the board that the top safety priority — separating the middle‑school parking area from playground space — will likely cost "somewhere near the million‑dollar range," and that camera infrastructure replacement will require ongoing annual funding (Jonathan cited roughly $30,000 per year to sustain camera replacement cycles). He added that a number of other projects have quotes in the roughly $75,000 range.
Board members asked how substitutes and new staff are prepared for emergency procedures; administrators said drills, location‑specific sheets inside subfolders, and advisory‑led followups provide rapid orientation. Parents and students can offer feedback via advisor channels, Google forms after trainings, and direct calls to administration.
Administration recommended the board consider options to fund capital improvements and said it would return with budgetary proposals and grant updates. No final funding votes were taken at the meeting.
