Nearly $350,000 in state funding for local school safety and security is being awarded to four Wood County schools.
The Ohio K-12 School Safety Grant Program had thousands of schools apply to be able to receive these funding awards for security upgrades and enhancements.
Bowling Green City Schools will use its $100,000 to install new PA systems at Kenwood and Conneaut elementaries.
The new systems “will add a level of security for the buildings to enable the principal and teachers to communicate seamlessly during an emergency situation. Our current systems are over 25 years old and are inconsistent and unreliable in operation,” said Superintendent Francis Scruci.
“We are ecstatic that we were able to address this problem with state funds and didn’t need to use our general fund money, as we want to be good stewards of the money entrusted to us. We are thankful that Gov. (Mike) DeWine has made security dollars available to districts like ours,” he said.
Superintendent Jim Witt said there are no definite plans to spend the $143,660 that Lake Local Schools received.
The district has a safety committee that will review needs, which will probably include cameras, he said.
“We will kind of glean some ideas from that committee and go from there,” Witt said. “Anything that we can do to make our campus safe.”
Lake officials also have an upcoming meeting with the Educator’s School Safety Network to hear about the newest trends.
“They’re one of the foremost experts on school safe in the country,” Witt said, adding that Lake has been affiliated with the group for 10-12 years.
It is led by Amy Klinger, a former Northwood Local Schools principal, he said.
“We feel pretty confident and we feel like our kids and our staff are safe, but we also know that every place has its vulnerabilities,” Witt said. “We want to make sure all of our bases are covered.”
Superintendent Ryan Delaney said North Baltimore Local Schools will use the $50,000 awarded to the district mostly at the high school.
He said additional security cameras will be at the high school and new keys and key fobs will be provided for the existing doors. A new and improved bell and PA system will be installed for better communication for the inside and the outside of the building.
“We are very fortunate to be awarded this money. We want to make the North Baltimore Local Schools the safest place in Ohio for students to attend,” he said.
Rossford Village School District officials are evaluating options for the $55,500 the district received.
“We are looking at potential training opportunities as well as physical building safety options that can be used to further strengthen overall security measures for our students and staff,” said Superintendent Dan Creps.
Ohio Rep. Haraz Ghanbari, R-Perrysburg, made the announcement about the security money. He advocated for legislation to enhance school security in Wood County and across the state. The funding, stemming from House Bill 687, which Ghanbari co-sponsored, included $100 million for this grant program.
“I’m pleased to report that the Ohio House is delivering on protecting students and staff across both Wood County and the state,” Ghanbari said. “Our schools will be able to use this funding for a variety of purposes including security improvements to ensure the safety of our children and teachers.”
Another application round is expected in the coming months where schools that have not yet applied will be given priority.
Ohio awarded a total of $47 million for security upgrades at over 1,100 schools in 81 counties, and will accept applications for another $53 million in that grant program.
The K-12 schools sharing in the $47 million applied when the program was launched last year with an initial $5 million but didn’t receive grants then. They’re getting up to $50,000 each for physical safety upgrades, such as security cameras, automatic door locks, visitor badging systems and exterior lighting.
DeWine had announced plans to provide more money for school security upgrades in the days after the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The larger pool for this year’s grants is supported by federal pandemic relief funding the state received through the American Rescue Plan Act.
While there’s “nothing magical” about the total $100 million, it’s a good place to start with basic safety needs, the Republican governor said.
DeWine said his administration wants to ensure that every school “has the basic, basic minimum, at least, of school safety functions.”
The school districts receiving the most money include $1.6 million Cleveland, over $900,000 for Cincinnati and Columbus, $800,000 for Springfield, and over $600,000 for Akron, Dublin and Lakota, north of Cincinnati.
(Sentinel-Tribune staff Marie Thomas-Baird and Debbie Rogers, along with the Associated Press, contributed to this story.)
