Students, teachers, and other school personnel should always feel safe on campus, but not all educational institutions have the budget it takes to truly secure school property and implement programs to reduce the risks of violence.
Luckily, there’s funding available through safe schools grants that can do a lot to help underfunded schools make campuses more secure for students and staff.
What Is a Safe Schools Grant?
Safe schools grants are a type of grant awarded by state governments and different organizations within the US federal government to address school violence and improve overall safety and security in schools.
These grant funds can be put towards many different things, but in general they are to be used to decrease the likelihood of violent behavior and protect students and staff from all types of physical harm.
For example, a grant might go towards paying for security personnel, training programs, violence prevention systems and technology, and/or upgraded physical security measures, such as access denial barriers for doors and windows (more on this below).
Safe schools grants are competitive, meaning that funding is not guaranteed for all schools. Those that are interested in a grant must meet certain eligibility requirements and fill out applications to be reviewed by the organization(s) providing the grant.
How much money do safe schools grants provide?
The exact sum awarded by a safe schools grant varies depending on where your school is located, how big the school is, and the specific grant program you apply for.
However, in general, these types of grants may offer somewhere in the range of $50,000 to $100,000 dollars per school. In some cases, grants provide entire school districts with funding, so the sum could be much higher.
Because school violence is a growing issue, the federal government and state governments are passing more and more legislation and providing more funds to support safety and security in schools across our nation.
For instance, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) just announced in October of 2022 that its office of Community Oriented Policing Service (COPS) and Office of Justice Programs (OSP) would be awarding almost $190 million in new grants to fund school safety and security.
How to find a safe schools grant
If you’re interested in applying for a grant to improve your school’s security, you can search for applicable programs on SchoolSafety.gov’s Grants Finder Tool.
The tool allows you to search for federal grants by safety topic (e.g., targeted violence), funding amount, level of effort required for the application, and other parameters.
If you don’t find a federal grant you’re interested in applying for via this tool, you can also search for state grants on Google. Many state government websites have specific information on school safety and security grants they offer.
What Should You Use a Safe Schools Grant For?
As we mentioned earlier, school security grants are intended to fund various safety and security improvements in educational facilities.
Different grants often specify what exactly the money can and can’t be used for, but here are a few general ideas to get you started:
- Conducting threat assessments
- Development and implementation of violence prevention programs
- Development and implementation of school safety plans and drills
- Purchase of security-related technology
Conducting threat assessments
Conducting a professional threat assessment is typically the first step towards boosting safety and security in schools.
During a threat assessment, a security expert will conduct a thorough inspection of your school’s property to identify security vulnerabilities, especially when it comes to forced entry and targeted violence.
The security expert will also ask detailed questions to understand certain risk factors for school violence and determine what level of security is needed.
After the threat assessment, you will receive specific, actionable recommendations for how to implement improved security measures in your school.
These recommendations can help you determine how to best spend your school’s security budget, including any grant funding awarded to you.
Development and implementation of school violence prevention programs
Violence prevention programs are research-based and address risk factors that can lead to school violence, including (but not limited to) bullying and dating.
Developing and implementing these types of programs often involves training staff and students how to recognize problem behaviors that can be warning signs of future violence, for example.
It can also involve creating technology systems, such as apps or websites, that allow staff and students to report and track worrying behaviors. This can also be done in coordination with local law enforcement.
Development and implementation of school safety plans and drills
The development and implementation of school safety plans and drills involves creating comprehensive plans and drills for different emergency scenarios, such as natural disasters, active threats, and lockdowns.
This typically means coordinating with local emergency services to conduct drills and other activities to improve your school’s overall emergency preparedness for all types of emergency situations.
Purchase of security-related technology
Planning and preventative programs are both very important parts of improving school safety and security, but it’s also critical that schools use part of any school security funding to purchase new security-related technology that helps deter and prevent violence and other crimes.
For example, this might include:
- Metal detectors
- Security lighting
- Surveillance cameras
- Alarm systems
- Emergency communications equipment
- Access control systems
- Electronic locks
- Visitor identification systems
- Polycarbonate security glazing
Things like security lighting, surveillance cameras, and alarms are all great deterrents to crime, but they don’t provide students and staff with physical protection, especially in active threat scenarios.
That’s why you also need to implement access denial technology, such as electronic door locks, access control systems, and polycarbonate security glazing.
Keeping doors closed and locked securely at all times and protecting vulnerable glass doors and windows with virtually unbreakable polycarbonate security glazing greatly reduces the chances of a violent attacker forcing entry and harming those inside.
These types of access denial barriers also give people inside time to react by running, hiding, and barricading themselves inside somewhere safe, while the authorities have time to arrive and neutralize the threat.
Wrapping Up
Schools have the difficult job of fostering positive learning environments as well as protecting their students and employees — a job made all the harder by the fact that many schools are notoriously underfunded.
Applying for a safe schools grant can provide your school with the extra funding it needs to boost security and help ensure a safe, welcoming experience for all.
Campbell Glass and Films is your partner in all things related to security glazing and access denial. Contact us today for a free consultation on how we can fortify your school without making it look fortified.
