Making Safe Schools Even Safer
Over the past 5 years, I have visited almost all of our diocesan Catholic schools. I left every campus visit happy about the levels of security – and, thus, safety – our schools provide daily for their students, faculty and staff. Recently, I learned that our school administrators are working to make their campuses even safer through Indiana Secured School Safety Grants.
The ISSSG program offers matching grants to schools as a way to help fund various projects to improve schools’ safety and security. Heading into the 2018-19 academic year, our schools are receiving more than $192,000 in matching grants. That means that more than $384,000 will be invested in making our campuses safer.
I hadn’t heard about the ISSSG program at all until a reporter from the Times-Herald newspaper in Washington, Daviess County, called to inquire about how Washington Catholic Schools’ grant funds would be used. That brief conversation led me online to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security’s pages. There, I read this:
“The Indiana Secured School Safety Grant Fund was created in 2013 to support initiatives to ensure schools are safe and secure. The program supports a dedicated state grant fund that provides matching grants to school corporations, accredited non-public schools, charter schools or a coalition of school corporations and/or charter schools applying jointly to:
“1.) Employ a school resource officer (salary, benefits and basic 40-hr training course);
“2.) Conduct a threat assessment; and/or
“3.) Purchase equipment to restrict access to the school or expedite the notification of first responders.”
All of our Catholic schools have enrollments under 1,000, so they can apply annually for an ISSSG award to receive matching funds up to $35,000. Washington Catholic received a $29,000 grant for 2018-19. Karie Craney, principal of Washington Catholic Middle and High School, tells me the grant and local matching funds are going toward upgrading controlled access, including a keyless entry system that could involve the use of fingerprints. The administration is still considering various options.
Craney said video-surveillance coverage of the elementary and middle/high school campuses will be expanded and improved, inside and outside the buildings.
I don’t have enough space to go through all of the awards, but Washington’s plans are good examples of the kinds of things these grants are paying for. With the new school year only days away, it’s nice to know that our new and returning students, teachers and staff members will be arriving to campuses that are in the process of becoming even safer.
None of us like to think about the need for this kind of security. Sadly, however, that need exists everywhere – even here in the Diocese of Evansville. The Message has reported on faculty and staff members from our schools receiving active-shooter-response training from local law enforcement agencies; and now, I am happy to share the news that our physical school buildings and grounds are undergoing improvements intended to keep our kids, teachers and staff members as safe as possible.
