NC public schools get $35 million in safety grants. Here’s what it can be used for.

North Carolina public schools will share in $35 million in new safety grants that will help pay for things such as installing weapons detectors and training staff to deal with students’ mental health issues.

The state Department of Public Instruction’s Center for Safer Schools announced Wednesday it has awarded $35 million in school safety grants to 230 school districts and charter schools. The grants will be used for safety equipment, training and services for students in crisis.

“Nothing is more important than making our schools safer and more secure, and these grants will continue to play a vital role,” State Superintendent Catherine Truitt said in a news release. “This funding will help improve school security in many ways, including updating technology and training to prevent future emergencies.”

In 2018, state lawmakers launched a new School Safety Grant program. Since then, more than $150 million in grants have been awarded.

Time for metal detectors?

Examples of acceptable use of grant funding, according to DPI, include:

▪ Purchase of safety equipment such as cameras, vape detectors, radio and weapons detection systems.

▪ Provide training for school leaders to assist students who are experiencing anxiety, trauma and/or conduct problems.

▪ Provide school-based mental health services.

Some school systems, including Johnston County and Charlotte-Mecklenburg, have turned to installing metal detectors/ weapons detectors to try to keep weapons out of schools.

CMS has gone from 78 guns being found on campus in a year to just three, according to William Lassiter, deputy secretary for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention at the state Department of Public Safety.

“The big difference is they’ve (CMS) put in place metal detectors at each of their doors in middle schools and high schools and they’ve seen that to be a very effective technique,” Lassiter said at Wednesday’s meeting of the N.C. Task Force For Safer Schools. “I’m not saying that’s the right technique for everybody.”

Who is getting the money?

▪ Onslow County was the largest grant recipient at $700,000.

▪ The next largest were $500,000 each given to Cabarrus, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Johnston, Wake and Winston-Salem/Forsyth counties.

▪ Orange County is getting $300,000.

▪ Uwharrie Charter Academy in Asheboro got the largest grant for any charter school at $200,684.

▪ Several charter schools got grants of more than $100,000.