Warren County School District was among six districts recently awarded safety grants that will enhance existing programs and supplies intended to protect students.

The grants were awarded by the School Safety and Security Committee within the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) as part of a program created by Senator Michelle Brooks and her fellow lawmakers in 2018.

“While it is so disheartening that today’s world necessitates this focus, I am happy that these grants have been awarded to our local communities to better protect our children and school staff,” Brooks said.

Eligible uses for the grants include hiring school security officers, purchasing security-related technology, completing safety and security assessments, implementing violence prevention curricula, offering counseling services for students, and creating other programs to protect students.

WCSD will use the grant money to expand one program and purchase more supplies, according to Matt Jones, coordinator of grants and foundation development for the school district.

The Act 44 School Safety and Security Grant had two separate funding streams, Jones said. Part A brought the district $25,000.

“These dollars (Part A) have allowed an expansion in hours for the WCSD School Resource Officer (SRO) Program,” Jones said. “The grant supplements the existing monies budgeted by the district for the WCSD SRO program.”

Part B allotted $12,210 to the district.

“These dollars will be used to purchase Stop The Bleed kits for district classrooms that currently have none,” Jones said. “The Stop The Bleed kits are in addition to the medical supplies we have made available in our buildings.”

A total of approximately $40 million was awarded for 234 projects throughout the state in the current round of funding. The School Safety and Security Grant Program will provide $52.5 million in school safety grants and $7.5 million in community violence prevention grants in the current fiscal year.

Every school district in the state that submitted a meritorious application was awarded a $25,000 grant last October to improve school safety. The grants announced recently were awarded on a competitive basis to schools that were seeking additional funding. PCCD received 638 applications totaling $177.6 million for school safety projects in this fiscal year.