Kiski Area, Burrell school districts collectively awarded $83,500 for school security

Mary Ann Thomas | Sunday, October 27, 2019 4:33 p.m.

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State grants help pay for equipment and police officers in schools.

The Kiski Area School District and the Burrell School District collectively were awarded $83,500 in state Department of Education Safe School Target Grants.

The districts are among others throughout the state receiving a total of $7.2 million in competitive 2019-2020 Safe Schools grants. The money, awarded through the education department’s Office for Safe Schools, is intended to to prevent and reduce acts of violence by offsetting costs of school resource or police officers, equipment or programs related to school safety.

Allegheny Township was awarded $60,000 to pay for a school resource officer in the Kiski Area School District.

The Department of Education awarded Burrell School District about $23,500 for security-related equipment. The grants are typically used for security planning and buying security equipment such as metal detectors, protective lighting, surveillance equipment, deadbolts and theft control devices and security technology equipment.

State lawmakers established the competitive grant program in the wake of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting in Parkland, Fla. The mass shooting caused Pennsylvania schools to compete for grants to pay for school safety programs.

PDE’s Office for Safe Schools offers four types of safety grants: equipment grants of up to $25,000; program grants of up to $20,000; school police officer grants of up to $40,000, and school resource officer grants of up to $60,000.