Governor Northam awarded $6 million in School Security Equipment Grants to help protect students and teachers in 340 schools in 70 school divisions. The grants will pay for video monitoring systems, voice and video internal communications systems, mass notification systems, visitor-identification systems, access control systems, two-way radios, security vestibules, and other security upgrades.
The criteria for making the awards — developed by the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services — give 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. This year — at the recommendation of Governor Northam’s Student Safety Workgroup — additional weight was given to applications from elementary schools.
Receiving money locally:
- Culpeper County — $66,558 for Farmington Elementary, Pearl Sample Elementary, and Sycamore Park Elementary
- Fairfax County — $236,102 for Crestwood Elementary, Dogwood Elementary, Parklawn Elementary, Riverside Elementary, and Whitman Middle
- Manassas City — $1,586 for Jennie Dean Elementary
- Orange County — $77,940 for Locust Grove Middle and Taylor Alternative Education Complex Feeding Site
- Prince William County — $48,637 for Dale City Elementary, Enterprise Elementary, and Kerrydale Elementary
- Spotsylvania County — $4,991 for Harrison Road Elementary
A local match of 25 percent is required of most divisions. Three school divisions with composite indices of local-ability-to-pay of less than 0.2 — Buena Vista, Lee County, and Scott County — and the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind are exempt from the local-match requirement.
The School Security Equipment Grants program was established by the 2013 General Assembly in the aftermath of the December 14, 2012, mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut.
