Dickenson County gets part of $6 million in new school security equipment grants

Some of $6 million in school security equipment grants announced today (Oct. 18) by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam are headed to schools in Dickenson County.

Ervinton Elementary School, Ridgeview Middle School and Ridgeview High School will benefit from the $180,191 award.

Also of note in the region were the following awards:

• Norton — $135,287 for Norton Elementary and Middle School;

• Wise County — $31,166 for St. Paul Elementary School, Union High School, Union Middle School and Wise Primary School.

• Lee County — $88,071 for Dryden Elementary School, Elydale Middle School, Flatwoods Elementary School, Pennington Middle School and St. Charles Elementary School.

• Scott County — $174,156 for Duffield-Pattonsville Primary School, Dungannon Intermediate School, Fort Blackmore Primary School, Hilton Elementary School, Nickelsville Elementary School, Rye Cove Intermediate School, Shoemaker Elementary School, Twin Springs High School, Weber City Elementary School, and Yuma Elementary School.

• Tazewell County — $66,536 for Abb’s Valley-Boissevain Elementary School, Dudley Primary School, Graham High School, Graham Intermediate School, Graham Middle School, Richlands Elementary School, Richlands Middle School, Tazewell Intermediate School, Tazewell Middle School, and Tazewell Primary School.

No awards were listed for schools in Buchanan or Russell counties.

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 maximum annual award for a school division is now $250,000, compared with $100,000 previously. Next year, the total annual appropriation for the program will double, from $6 million, to $12 million.

The grants went to 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.

“Virginia’s public schools must be safe learning environments where our children can grow, thrive, and prepare for a lifetime of achievement,” said Northam.

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.

The School Security Equipment Grants program was established by the 2013 General Assembly in the aftermath of the Dec. 14, 2012, mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.