School districts of Bensalem Township, Bristol Borough, Bristol Township, Centennial, Central Bucks, Council Rock and Neshaminy all received $25,000 grants
By Tom Waring
The Times
Seven local school districts were awarded state grants to help improve student safety through a new program supported by Sen. Robert M. “Tommy” Tomlinson.
The School Safety and Security Grant Program created by lawmakers earlier this year provides grants to school districts for a wide variety of projects to improve school safety.
Eligible uses for the grants include hiring school security officers, purchasing security-related technology, completing safety and security assessments, implementing violence prevention curricula, offering counseling services for students and creating other programs to protect students.
In this first stage of funding, the school districts of Bensalem Township, Bristol Borough, Bristol Township, Centennial, Central Bucks, Council Rock and Neshaminy all received $25,000 grants.
“Our school districts and local law enforcement work very hard to keep schools safe for our students and staff. They have been innovative and proactive in addressing both security and mental health needs,” Tomlinson said. “We must continue to support them in these efforts with ongoing engagement and funding opportunities such as this.”
The new program was created as part of a comprehensive school safety bill that was signed into law in June. More than $60 million in new funding was dedicated in the current year’s budget to improve school safety, the senator said. ••
