Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Safety Grant topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Gurdon School Board accepts federal school-safety grant, approves most security upgrades
Summary
The Gurdon School District board voted Oct. 15 to accept a federal school-safety grant of $314,583 and approve funded projects — including surveillance, door access and other hardware — while noting fencing was not funded and will require other resources.
The Gurdon School District Board of Directors voted Oct. 15 to accept a federal school-safety grant and approve the security projects funded by that award.
Wendy Schaeffer, the district's grant coordinator, told the board the district applied in June for $452,492 in federal COPS (community-oriented policing school violence prevention) funding and listed a required local match of $150,831 in the application. In September the district was notified it had been awarded $314,583; Schaeffer said the district match listed in grant materials was approximately $104,000 (the transcript lists the figure as "104,000.860"). Schaeffer said the district was one of about 20% of schools nationwide to receive any award from this competition.
The projects funded by the award include a district-wide surveillance system without an extended licensing fee, electronic door access upgrades, bollards at the CES entrance to block vehicle intrusion, a fire-rated double door for the van call, updated exit/egress hardware to replace crash bars, door-prop alarms and other school-safety measures. Schaeffer said the fencing request (estimated in the discussion at about $180,000) was not funded by the grant.
Board members asked whether other grant opportunities could cover fencing; Schaeffer said she has applied for additional funds, including rekeying doors at the high school and CES, and that she expected more school-safety grant opportunities in the future but could not promise them.
Chair moved and received a second to accept the grant award and approve the listed projects; the board voted in favor and the motion passed.
Next steps include executing the grant acceptance paperwork, coordinating required local match funding, and moving forward with procurement and installation for the approved items. Schaeffer said staff will continue pursuing additional funding to cover items the grant did not fund.
