Here's how much Greene County public, private schools will get in state safety grants
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Seven of the eight public school districts in Greene County are slated to receive state grants to improve safety. In all, they will receive $1.34 million.
The Springfield and Republic districts were awarded the maximum amount available during the second round of the School Safety Grant Program — which announced Monday that 566 public, charter and private schools will receive a total of $50 million.
Walnut Grove was the only district in Greene County not included in the round. Here is the amount awarded to each of the others:
$300,000 − Springfield, Republic
$250,000 − Willard
$199,615 − Logan-Rogersville
$150,000 − Strafford
$100,000 − Ash Grove
$50,000 − Fair Grove
In Springfield, the funds will be used to provide upgraded, portable radios created specifically for first responders. It will purchase 37 radios for school police and dispatchers.
Jim Farrell, chief of school police for the Springfield district, said they are the same radios currently being used by the Greene County Sheriff's Office.
"Our buildings are made of concrete and steel, which very often means there will be times when you lose radio signal, which means our officers can't communicate with our dispatch or, if needed, could not communicate at times with incoming other first-responders in a crisis situation," said Farrell, in a Monday interview with the News-Leader. "These new radios, if you lose radio signal, they automatically switch to Wi-Fi. Our Wi-Fi in our buildings is incredibly strong."
Farrell added: "In some catastrophic incident, if you lost both Wi-Fi and radio signal, it would switch to cell service."
Springfield's school police will remain on the City Utilities' trunk radio system but the new radios provide a greater "peace of mind" that officers can communicate in or outside of buildings on school campuses.
The school police department includes 31 officers and 10 dispatchers, although one of the dispatcher positions is still open.
"It dramatically increases our ability to use our radios," he said.
Private schools receive safety grants from state
As part of the state's fiscal year budget, Gov. Mike Parson allocated $50 million for this round of safety grants.
The aim of the program is to support physical upgrades and associated technology to improve safety, which include door locks, monitoring systems and automatic external defibrillators.
More: These 'high-priority' school security changes aim to make Springfield students safer
“Improving the safety and security of our schools is an issue we can all support, and these grants help ensure our schools remain safe environments for Missouri children to learn,” said Parson, in a Monday news release. “While threats of violence are something we never want to see in our classrooms, we must be prepared and have proper resources and response plans in place. This second round of school safety grants continues our commitment to doing just that and helping keep kids safe.”
In Nixa, the grant will help the district upgrade intercom and video security systems, expand remove door locks, and install fencing at various campuses.
In the first round, the state awarded $20 million in funding to 169 districts and charter schools. The second round was also open to private schools.
Nine private or faith-based schools in Greene County were awarded grants as part of this round. In total, they will receive $538,914 and include:
$100,000 − New Covenant Academy
$99,980 − Gloria Deo Academy
$61,000 − Immaculate Conception School
$50,000 − Greenwood Laboratory School. St. Agnes Cathedral School, St. Joseph Catholic Academy
$49,835 − Springfield Lutheran School
$41,900 − St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton School
$36,199 − Summit Preparatory School
The schools applied for the grants through a competitive process.
Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven thanked the governor and lawmakers for supporting the program. “Missouri families continue to tell education leaders that ensuring their child’s school remains safe and secure is their biggest concern."
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Greene County public, private schools receive nearly $1.9M for safety
