JISD accepts grant to increase security, crisis planning

By Philip Navarrette/reporter@trcle.com

February 25, 2008 06:54 pm

— Joshua ISD recently accepted a readiness and emergency security grant for $133,000 with the aim of helping districts prepare, respond and recover from crises.
“It’s a Department of Education grant to promote the security and safety of school sites,” Superintendent Ray Dane said. “It involves mapping of campuses and development training and plans to ensure student safety and security.”
The grant is part of a national grant program that has awarded more than $23 million to school districts in 26 states, according to the department’s Web site.
The goal of the grant is to plan and prepare for responses from such emergencies as sudden disease outbreaks to hostile intruders on a campus, according to the site. Districts may also use the funds to purchase surveillance equipment and conduct training drills and exercises.
Joshua has plans for the grant, Dane said.
“It’s a contract to develop a crisis management database and a mapping program of the school,” Dane said.
Using the digital map, the district will be able to monitor the campuses and track visitors, he said.
“You can actually follow a camera virtually and go down into classrooms looking for people if somebody’s in the building,” Dane said. “It’s for security.”
The district’s school board decided Feb. 18 to award the contract of implementing the grant to Prepared Response Inc., a national crisis management and planning company.
The district used five criteria for choosing PRI for the proposal, Dane said.
“The selection scale is based on experience, that is working with K-12 schools, particularly in Texas, implementation of the scope of the grant, company background, company references and price.”
The proposal was accepted Feb. 18, so a timeline isn’t in place nor is a set of details on when the grant will be implemented, Dane said.