Lenoir County Public Schools will use a $282,000 grant from the state to increase the number of school resource officers in the district and upgrade technology critical to school safety.
The grant is part of a $74.1 million School Safety grant recently announced by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s Center for Safe Schools.
“We want to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for all, and this grant helps in that process,” said Assistant Superintendent Nicholas Harvey II, the district’s school safety officer.
This will allow LCPS to add two School Resource Officers (SROs) who will rotate between the district’s elementary schools, with one assigned to the Kingston school and the other assigned to the county’s school. SROs have been assigned to LCPS middle and high schools.
“This grant gives us the opportunity to provide more coverage at the elementary level,” Harvey said.
“You can never be too careful. It is clearly in the best interest of our school to have an officer provide protection and protection for our students and the adults who work or visit our buildings.”
The technology portion of the grant will be used to upgrade systems that will allow administrators to monitor school buildings and activity on campus around the clock.
LCPS has previously used grant funds to install access control devices and purchase metal detectors and hand-held wands for on-demand use in all schools.