Bensalem Schools Get Money For Resource Officer

BENSALEM, PA — Bensalem schools will be getting some help paying for a a school resource officer thanks to a $60,000 grant from the state.

The funding was one of the grants announced Thursday by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and is part of the state's Safe Schools Targeted Grant program. The grant to the Bensalem Township School District is for the 2018-19 school year.

Schools spokeswoman Susan Phy said the money will help pay for an officer from the Bensalem Township Police Department to work at the district's two middle schools. The school board has approved having an officer police the two schools for the next 10 years, at a total cost of $523,384 to the district.

Here is a quote from Dr. Sam Lee, Superintendent.

"We are grateful for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s enhanced attention to school safety and fortunate to be the recipient of the $60,000 grant," said schools Superintendent Sam Lee. "We will allocate this to support our middle school resource officer."

Secretary of Education Pedro A. Rivera said the $8.4 million in grants announced Thursday are designed to prevent and reduce violent incidents in schools, to purchase safety and security-related equipment and to provide for the training and compensation of school resource and police officers.

"Parents and students deserve to have confidence that our classrooms are safe places for children and teachers," said Gov. Tom Wolf in a news release.

Several other Safe School programs also awarded grants that were announced this week, including equipment grants, grants for school police officers and .grants for special programs.

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