Schools get $65,000 safety grant
The Cedar Grove-Belgium School District received all the money it requested from a $100 million statewide safety grant.
Supt. Jeanne Courneene announced the district is getting $65,041 at last week’s School Board meeting.
Among the items the district will use the money for are shatter-resistant film on glass doors in the main entrances to all three of its buildings and the district office and interior and exterior video equipment at the high school.
Other supplies to be purchased with the grant money include beacon lights in the high school band and choir rooms and middle school science and band rooms. Those rooms currently do not have an alarm or indicator to signal an evacuation.
The middle and elementary schools are getting one exterior video surveillance camera each. The elementary school will get four elementary classroom door locks, and the district will get six two-way radios that will work with its current system.
In addition, district staff will receive professional development in Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and Trauma Informed Care/Trauma Sensitive Schools (TIC/TSS).
Three hours of that training was one of the grant’s prerequisites. It must be completed by the end of next school year.
Other requirements include working with law enforcement agencies to ensure the investments, visitor protocols and school safety plans will be effective.
The $100 million School Safety Plan was approved by the Wisconsin State Legislature in March. It includes a provision that requires mandatory reporters — teachers, counselors, medical and mental health professionals — to report threats of school violence in addition to the current reporting of suspected child abuse.
Money was given in two categories — non-competitive grants for basic safety improvements and competitive grants for schools that have met minimum security thresholds.
“Not all schools have made necessary security upgrades, which is why it is important that all schools are brought up to an essential school-safety baseline,” Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel said. “But at the same time, we should not penalize schools that have already made critical investments. My team will award these two grant categories concurrently.”
Public and private school districts were eligible to apply for grant funding.
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