How much money did your kid's school get from Ohio to boost safety? We have the list.

Madeline Mitchell, Cincinnati Enquirer
·4 min read

More than 150 schools in Cincinnati and its surrounding suburbs are receiving a collective $6 million in school safety grants, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced this month. This is part of the state's $47 million investment in school security upgrades for nearly 1,200 schools. Schools could apply for up to $50,000 each.

Many districts are using the funds to improve their entrance security technology, investing in things such as cameras and fingerprint scanners.

"We want to limit access to the buildings," Oak Hills safety and security director Bill Murphy said.

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Murphy and other school leaders were leery to give away too much information about school security measures and grant usage so as not to compromise school safety.

As part of a security upgrade, a glass wall partition was added to the entrance at Fairfield Intermediate School to funnel visitors to the office when entering or leaving the building.
As part of a security upgrade, a glass wall partition was added to the entrance at Fairfield Intermediate School to funnel visitors to the office when entering or leaving the building.

New Cincinnati Public Schools Superintendent Iranetta Wright presented on the grants during a Monday school board meeting. The district is the largest in the region, received the largest collective grant in the region and the second largest grant statewide behind Cleveland Municipal Schools.

The district received $993,320 to pay for updates at 20 of its 64 school buildings:

  • Aiken College and Career High School, $50,000.

  • Bond Hill Academy, $46,920.

  • Carson Elementary School, $50,000.

  • Hughes STEM High School, $50,000.

  • Leap Academy at North Fairmount, $46,400.

  • Oyler School, $50,000.

  • Parker Woods Montessori, $50,000.

  • Pleasant Hill Elementary School, $50,000.

  • Rees E. Price Elementary School, $50,000.

  • Roberts Paideia Elementary School, $50,000.

  • Rockdale Academy Elementary School, $50,000.

  • Roll Hill School Elementary School, $50,000.

  • Rothenberg Prep Elementary School, $50,000.

  • School for Creative and Performing Arts, $50,000.

  • Shroder High School, $50,000.

  • Taft High School, $50,000.

  • Walnut Hills High School, $50,000.

  • Western Hills University High School, $50,000.

  • Withrow University High School, $50,000.

  • Woodward Career Technical High School, $50,000.

That money will go to buy digital video recorders, cameras, network monitoring sensors, power supply units with surge protection and storage capacity for the new equipment.

Lakota Local Schools was awarded the third largest grant in the state, receiving more money than Columbus City Schools. The $950,000 grant will go towards security cameras, bollards, window film and badge readers, Lakota's chief operations officer Chris Passarge said.

The $50,000 grants for each school "won't buy a new security system for a building," Passarge said, but it will help with "a good chunk" of the district's safety needs.

Oak HIlls' Murphy told The Enquirer the district applied for funds at all nine school buildings and received funds for all of them, which is atypical for most of the districts that received funding. But Some Oak Hills schools got more grant money than others. The breakdown of Oak Hills' grant funds are:

  • Bridgetown Middle School, $8,353.75.

  • C.O. Harrison Elementary School, $37,112.63.

  • Charles W. Springmyer Elementary School, $27,277.63.

  • Delhi Middle School, $10,563.04.

  • Delshire Elementary School, $32,872.75.

  • John Foster Dulles Elementary School, $38,309.39.

  • Oak Hills High School, $50,000.

  • Oakdale Elementary School, $35.978.01.

Norwood City School District received $250,000 split among its five buildings.

"Additional cameras, new doors, door locks are always on the list," superintendent Mary Ronan said. "Thank goodness with our facility construction upgrades over the past five years, we have double entry front doors with cameras and buzzers."

West Clermont announced it was using part of its $261,944 grant to secure a new school resource officer to serve the district's elementary schools.

Springboro Schools also received funds for all six of its schools. Each building got $50,000.

While the specifics are still pending, spokesperson Scott Marshall said, the district's application listed improvements to video surveillance and public address systems throughout each school building.

"If future grant applications are made available, our district will be applying to those particular grants we deem beneficial toward the safety and security of our students, staff, parents, and community," Marshall wrote in an email to The Enquirer.

To see a full list of schools awarded Ohio safety grants, click here.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Did your kid's school get money to boost safety? We have the list.