St. Mary School in Pinckney received a 2018 Michigan State Police Competitive School Safety Grant Award. The award is worth more than $22,000, and will be used to purchase equipment and/or technology to improve the safety and security of the school building, students and staff. “Students have a right to learn without fear,” said Principal Veronica Kinsey. “St. Mary will strive to make our school safer each year, and this grant will help us improve.”
St. Mary plans to use funds to conduct a thorough building safety assessment, and install a number of safety-related items: trauma kits in classrooms, automatic external defibrillators (with their correspondent defibrillator storage unit), window security film, an internal video intercom with electronic locking system, and classroom lock-down buckets.
“The Competitive School Safety Grant Program will provide the resources needed by many schools throughout our state to ensure students have a safe learning environment,” said MSP Director Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue. “The review committee gave priority to proposals that sought to secure access points at school buildings, as it is considered one of the best and most cost-effective ways to improve school safety and security.”
St. Mary’s request was one of 407 applications submitted, totaling more than $69 million in requests. Grant applications were reviewed by a committee that included representatives from the MSP, Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police, Michigan Sheriffs’ Association, Michigan Department of Education, Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools, school security personnel and the Executive Office of the Governor. The committee awarded $25 million in school safety grants statewide.
