Glenwood City receives $78,820 school safety grant

By LeAnn R. Ralph

GLENWOOD CITY  —  The Glenwood City school district has been awarded a school safety grant of $78,820 through the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

Glenwood City was one of 52 schools awarded grants July 9. Out of the 52 schools, the largest grant was for $210,800 to the Elmbrook school district, and the smallest grant was for $15,743 to the Christ King School in Wauwatosa.

“We were fortunate enough to be selected for a school safety grant from the Department of Justice,” said Tim Johnson, Glenwood City school district administrator.

The Elk Mound school district also was awarded a school safety grant July 9 for $64,133. The Boyceville school district received a school safety grant in the first round of grant awards for $60,000.

Eric Wright, district administrator in Elk Mound, and Kevin Sipple, district administrator in Boyceville, both said their respective school districts received help from their Cooperative Educational Service Agency to complete the grant application.

The application process was detailed and technical, with a short turn-around time, they said.

The state Legislature set aside $100 million of general purpose revenue in March to be administered as grants available through the new Office of School Safety in the Department of Justice to help schools improve their security systems.

In February of this year, a gunman killed 17 people at a high school in Florida.

“The grant process was the same for everyone, basically defining the cost of the improvement efforts needed and justifying how safety would be improved,” Johnson said.

“As a district, we were fortunate to have many updated safety features in our last referendum. These dollars will certainly enhance the work that been previously done,” he said.

The grant money will be spent on security film for front entrances, exterior door windows and classroom door windows, Johnson said.

When security film is applied to glass windows, the windows become virtually unbreakable.

The grant money also will allow the Glenwood City school district to purchase two-way digital hand-held radios, Johnson said.

According to Wright, the district administrator in Elk Mound, the need for better communication among members of school staff has come up over and over again when incidents occur at schools.

Glenwood City’s grant money also will enable the school district to add the security doors within the building, which allow school staff to section off portions of the school, to be added to the monitoring system and automatic panic locking system, Johnson said.

“We will have all exterior doors with prop alarms monitored on the central panel. Additional staff training, safety protocols, plans and table-top exercises are included in the grant,” he said.

“We will also be able to begin to have classroom doors with centrally controlled locks, fobbed access, and panic button lock systems. All these things will be included in the grant,” Johnson said.

The Glenwood City school district “will continue to look at expansion of safety, and those additional items would need to be incorporated into the annual budget,” he said.

Johnson says it is unlikely any of the work will be completed before school starts in September.

The school district has a 30 day waiting period before construction would begin, he said.

The school districts receiving grants also will all be using the same companies to help upgrade the security in their school buildings.