COLUMBUS, Ohio — Governor Mike DeWine recently announced that nearly 1,000 schools across the Buckeye state would receive a total of $68 million earmarked for safety measures, part of Ohio’s K-12 Safety Grant Program.
What You Need To Know
- The money allocated to school safety comes from Ohio’s K-12 Safety Grant Program
- The $68 million is the fourth round of grant funding for school safety
- More than 900 schools will receive money from this grant
- Money can go towards cameras, loudspeakers, exterior lighting, door locks, window coverings and more
- Each building can get up to $100,000
A total of 945 schools will receive a security makeover due to the grant. The schoolswill receive funding that can go toward cameras, loudspeakers, exterior lighting, door locks, window coverings and more.
While much of this money will go toward improving the technology that helps the district, school safety expert Ken Trump said the schools themselves also need to prioritize safety within their staff.
“Any security, technology and equipment is only as good as the weakest human life behind it,” said Trump.”When security fails, it fails because of human factors, people, policies, procedures, training, communication. And you can’t solve a human problem, a behavioral problem, crime and violence only with a technological solution.”
The state established the Ohio School Safety Center, which works to assist local schools to prevent, prepare for and respond to threats and acts of violence.
Training is integral in safety according to school safety expert Michael Dorn, who said that it’s vital that schools get assessed individually so they can tailor their safety programs and protocols to them. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) offers free training, an assessment that Dorn said is a great resource.
“It doesn’t cost anything,” said Dorn. “You can have local public safety and school officials take the training, use the tools, and then you can be more accurate in selecting how you’re going to spend those dollars.”
Both experts said the governor’s focus on public safety is great but it’s important to focus on making safety a priority to everyone, including parents, students and faculty.
