Nov. 4—HAMLET — Richmond County Schools was awarded $1,453,656 to implement various measures to ensure safety across the district.

"That is something to cheer for," said Dr. Julian Carter, associate superintendent of human resources. "We now have money that we feel like we can use to get card reader system for our doors to secure our entrances. That's something I think the board has been keen on doing."

Those card readers would potentially be able to identify every individual who has entered a building using a form of identification. Maintenance Director Steven King has been asked to hire a consultant on how a card reader system would be used most effectively and implemented consistently across all 15 schools in the county.

Carter said that there are 100 different options for a card reader system with different functions, and that a concern would be finding the timeline of when this could be completed, hopefully before June 30, 2023.

On Friday, RCS was notified by Karen Fairley, Executive Director at the NC Department of Public Instruction that they had been awarded the funds. 200 school districts across North Carolina will benefit from $74.1 million in school safety funding.

From the funds, $20,000 was awarded for 'Say Something' program training and mental illness identification. $264,000 was awarded for school resource officers.

There are currently five full-time SROs, and one part-time SRO, across 15 schools in the district.

"We are still looking to add more SROs," Carter said, adding that a memorandum of understanding must be agreed upon between RCS, the Sheriff's Office and the Rockingham and Hamlet police departments, before that $20,000 is received.

Interim Superintendent Dennis Quick said that he wants more SROs in the district, although the main problem to achieving that goal is finding employees who are able and interested in working.

"We need to get to a point where we have an SRO in every school," said board member Cory Satterfield.

The remaining $1.1 M in funding is allocated for safety equipment. Items that will be purchased soon are SmartSense vape detectors at the high school and potentially three metal detectors that could be used at Rockingham and Ellerbe Middle.

Another plan for the safety funds is to replace dysfunctional cameras across the district and obtain five digital radios for REaCH.

It's unclear whether the money must be spent within a certain period of time. Carter said that Melvin Ingram, director of the Exceptional Children Program, will receive more information on when the money must be spent at a conference this week.

Carter thanked Beginning Teacher Coordinator Dr. Tesha Isler and Ingram for their work in writing the grant.

"We believe that we're now able to make full and great strides in the area of safety in our schools," Carter concluded.