Hampton City Schools receives $201,000 school security equipment grant

 

Hampton City Schools has received over $249,000 in state School Security Equipment Grants to protect students, faculty and visitors. The $12 million in grants were awarded to protect 583 schools in 93 school divisions. The grants will pay for video monitoring systems, voice and video internal communications systems, school bus interior cameras, mass notification systems, visitor-identification systems, access control systems, two-way radios, security vestibules and other security upgrades.

 

“The health and safety of students and school staff is paramount,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane. “These grants are an important part of equipping schools with the systems necessary to mitigate security risks, detect threats and connect schools with first responders. The commonwealth continues to lead the nation in proactively addressing school safety as the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) works in partnership with other state agencies and local school divisions to keep students, faculty and visitors safe in our schools.”

 

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 - are exempt from the local-match requirement.

 

The 2019 Appropriation Act doubled the total annual appropriation for the grant program - effective in 2020 - from $6 million, to $12 million. The 2019 General Assembly also approved Governor Ralph Northam’s proposal to increase the maximum award per school division - also effective in 2020 - from $100,000, to $250,000.

 

The School Security Equipment Grants program was established by the 2013 General Assembly in the aftermath of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut.