ALBANY — Six area school districts have recently received grant funding to bolster school safety as part of $21 million awarded to 263 Wisconsin school districts in a second round of grant funding that begin this summer.
Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel announced the grants in a press release Oct. 8.
The School District of Albany received just over $18,000 on Sept. 26. Argyle School District was granted nearly $17,000 on Oct. 2. The School District of Black Hawk received over $20,000 on Oct. 1, while Pecatonica Area Schools took in a grant of more than $22,000 on Oct. 3. Juda School District received just over $17,000 on Oct. 4. Evansville Community School District received the most grant funding by far at nearly $100,000 granted on Oct. 3.
In an effort to deal with safety threats at schools, the DOJ School Safety Grant program funding is meant to help districts conduct mental health training, improve technology reporting and better hone violence threat assessments.
This is the second round of funding for school safety improvements within schools across the state. Initially, 723 schools and districts throughout the state applied for funding. According to the release, all schools which applied for funding have now received some grant funding. Statewide institutions which applied included 97 percent of public schools and roughly 40 percent of private schools.
Schimel’s announcement also highlighted $2.2 million granted from the federal DOJ to the state. Roughly half of the funding comes from the U.S. DOJ Bureau of Justice Assistance. The bureau granted $1 million to supplement state funding for training on adolescent mental health.
Another grant of $1 million provides the Wisconsin DOJ supplemental funding to increase the number of schools training violence threat assessment teams and organizing standard response protocols to an active shooter situation in a school, establishing safety intervention teams within a district and planning drills meant to ensure students are returned to loved ones if an evacuation is necessary.
As part of the $100 million in safety grant funding given by state law in March, districts are required to submit safety plans if they receive grant funding. The grant given by the federal bureau will aid schools in submitting safety plans, interactive floor plans and scheduling safety drills, which districts must report to the state.
Additional grant funding of $200,000 will be used to create an anonymous tip line application, according to the release.
Under this second round, grant funds are given according to student enrollment as reported to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Each school or school district that applies will receive an estimated $55.21 per child, but no school will receive less than $10,000 or more than $2.5 million to ensure all applicants receive enough funding to make impactful security improvements to buildings.