Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Virginia Department of Education announced in November the awarding of $12 million in School Security Equipment Grants to 96 school divisions, and this included Franklin City Public Schools and Southampton County Public Schools.

The VDOE news release noted that these grants, which were allocated to 472 schools within those 96 divisions, are intended to help protect students, faculty, staff and visitors.

The 2024-25 school year grants have been awarded on a competitive basis, with each awarded school division eligible to receive grant awards of as much as $250,000, the release stated.

SCPS was awarded $195,069 for use at all of its buildings except for the Fresh Start Center. The eligible buildings include Southampton High School, Southampton Middle School and Capron, Meherrin, Nottoway and Riverdale Elementary schools.

FCPS was awarded $132,000 for use at Franklin High School.

The VDOE release also noted that the 472 recipient schools were awarded funds based on a rank ordering of applications’ point totals on the competitive application criteria. 

“The criteria developed by VDOE and the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services gives priority to schools most in need of modern security equipment, schools with relatively high numbers of offenses, schools with equipment needs identified by a school security audit and schools in divisions least able to afford security upgrades,” VDOE officials stated in the release.

SCPS Director of Technology Bill Hatch gave a presentation at the Monday, Jan. 13, Southampton County School Board meeting, sharing details on security grant money that the school division requested and has received for the 2024-25 school year.

His slideshow presentation noted that the requested grant amount if all projects were approved and selected was $223,760, and the requested local match was $55,940, creating a combined total of $279,700.

“As in previous school years, we have been awarded money from the state security grant,” he said. “This is an annual grant that school divisions can apply for, and most school divisions do. But we tend to get money generally every year from this grant.”

He noted that the $195,069 awarded from the state requires a local match of $48,767.25, creating a total of $243,836.25.

“So almost a quarter million dollars that we’re going to be spending on beefing up some of our security,” he said. “This year is not a year where we’re doing a lot of huge projects. It’s really just adding to some stuff that we already have…”

He indicated that this included security fencing, outside lighting and hurricane coating for windows.

“So we’re really looking forward to being able to do that,” he said.

Later he said, “I also wanted to mention that from time to time, the state, if it has money left over from previous grants, it will go back and look for school divisions that it didn’t fully fund or schools that it didn’t fund at all. And in 2023, Meherrin, Nottoway and the middle school were not funded as part of the (School Security Equipment) Grant. The other schools were.

“And so they’ve given us — just got this like two weeks ago — $9,506.12 of unused money that we’re going to be able to then use to go back and try to do what we had applied for in 2023 for those schools,” he added.

Hatch concluded his presentation by noting that SCPS received the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services Grant.

“This is a grant that pays for security officers for Riverdale and Nottoway,” he said.

His presentation noted that the grant amount totaled $55,376, with each school resource officer receiving $27,688.

A Jan. 7 news release from the Franklin school division noted that FCPS Director of Technology Joshua Spaugh had already submitted a School Security Equipment Grant application at the end of July 2024. 

The release noted that for that application, there were the following qualifying questions used by the grant reviewers at VDOE to assess needs and make allocations: 

• Is there currently security video equipment installed in this school, such as items listed in the instructions?

Spaugh stated in the release that for FHS, the answer to this question was “Yes.”

• Did a previous school security audit specifically identify or recommend the need for the  security equipment being requested through this grant? 

Spaugh stated in the release that for FHS, the answer to this question was “No.”

• Does this school have an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) power backup system dedicated to support the security equipment in place? 

Spaugh stated that for FHS, the answer to this question was “Yes.”

• How many buses assigned to this school will receive cameras/two-way radios? 

Spaugh stated that for FHS, the answer to this question was “Two.”

• What percentage of the bus fleet at this school already has cameras/two-way radios? 

Spaugh stated that for FHS, the answer to this question was “80%.”

He explained that out of the grant requests from FCPS, only those for FHS were approved.

“(The reviewers) do not provide feedback as to why certain schools are approved or not approved or the amounts they allocate,” Spaugh added in the release, “but my understanding is it is based on the needs determination, previous awards and overall available funding.”

The release noted that the FCPS grant application, which was based on observations and assessments, indicated the division’s needs were determined and figured to cost $312,500 for several projects.

The release provided the following cost breakdown for those projects:

At the J.P. King Jr. Career and Technical Academy, which is used by FHS students, the total cost would be $20,000: 

• $5,000 for handheld two-way radios for staff;
• $5,000 for mounted surveillance cameras inside and outside; and 
• $15,000 for vaping detectors.

Further, $165,000 is needed for equipment at FHS: 

• $75,000 for security door hardware or electronic card access control reader systems for ID  

verification; 

• $5,000 for handheld two-way radios for staff; 
• $5,000 for interior security cameras in school buses; 
• $5,000 for vaping detectors; 
• $50,000 for metal or firearm detection systems at public building entrances; and 
• $25,000 for surveillance cameras mounted on interior/exterior walls.

For S.P. Morton Elementary School, which serves students in pre-kindergarten through sixth  grade, it was determined that $122,500 is needed: 

• $5,000 for vaping detectors; 
• $50,000 for metal or firearm detection systems at public building entrances; 
• $5,000 for handheld two-way radios for staff; 
• $10,000 for surveillance cameras mounted on interior/exterior walls; 
• $32,500 for security vestibules; and 
• $20,000 for security door hardware or electronic card access control reader systems for ID verification.

In the release, Spaugh stated, “Since some of the requested items for FHS ended up being covered by other funding sources, we plan to submit an amendment requesting use of parts of the security grant on other new projects.

“We are hoping to use the grant funding on one or more projects including new classroom panic button systems, ballistic film for interior windows, additional bus and security cameras, staff radios and additional vape detectors, depending on pricing we get back from vendors,” he continued. 

The release concluded as Spaugh added that the grant is a reimbursement-type grant, so “we are not sent the money from the state until after the purchases have been made.”