Anna District No. 37 awarded $401,588 school safety grant

More than $670,000 in federal grants have been awarded to Anna and Cahokia schools to strengthen security in the classroom. 

The grants were announced Monday, Jan. 10, by U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill.

More than 153 jurisdictions nationwide applied and received grants through a Department of Justice School Violence Prevention Program initiative that Bost introduced and had signed into law in 2018.

“School should be a place for our children and grandchildren to learn, make friends  and pursue their interests, not somewhere they are afraid for their safety,” Bost said in a news release.

“As a father, a grandfather and a former first responder, getting the legislation that created the School Violence Prevention Program signed into law is one of my proudest accomplishments in Congress. 

“I’m so pleased that Southern Illinois schools continue to receive these grants year after year.”

Anna Community Consolidated School District No. 37 will use its $401,588 grant to continue Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, PBIS, training for staff, as well as to install a number of security enhancements, including safety window film and fence wrap, road barriers, upgraded door locks and cameras and a night lock system.

Cahokia Public School District No. 187 will use its $268,575 to upgrade and add additional cameras at all of its campuses, to improve lighting and signage, to establish a digital platform to improve communication with law enforcement and parents in emergency situations and  to implement emergency and trauma training for staff.

The School Violence Prevention Program provides funding directly to states, units of local government and Indian tribes to be used to improve security at schools and on school grounds in the grantees’ jurisdictions through evidence-based school safety programs that may include one or more of the following:

Coordination with local law enforcement.

Training for local law enforcement officers to prevent school violence against others and self.

Placement and use of metal detectors, locks, lighting, and other deterrent measures.

Acquisition and installation of technology for expedited notification of local law enforcement during an emergency.

Any other measure that, in the determination of the director of the COPS Office, may provide a significant improvement in security.