Oak Creek Got $218K School Safety Funding: Here's What It's For

OAK CREEK, WI — Gov. Scott Walker signed his $100 million School Safety Plan into law, creating a grant program for school districts to enhance school safety resources.

"Our $100 million School Safety Plan will help ensure that every student, parent, and teacher feels safe at school," Walker said. "This bill provides important grant funding that will allow districts to invest in safety measures that will help protect against all threats. This will help protect our students and their future."
The Department of Justice previously accepted applications for programs and projects related to school violence. The application deadline for this first round of funding was June 8. Expenditures enhanced or improved upon school or district efforts to prevent, mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from violence.

The Department accepted applications from school boards, operators of independent charter schools, governing bodies of private schools, and tribal schools.

You might be wondering what impact this might have for the Oak Creek-Franklin Joint School District, which received $218,000 in grant funding.

Here's how the district broke down what they'll use the money for:

• Reach full implementation of Treat-And-Go Safety Kits at all of our schools
• Reach full implementation of our District camera system
• Purchase and install hardening materials on entrances and other vulnerable glass applications across the District
• Enact a strengthened visitor protocol utilizing the Raptor program
• Install panic buttons linked to law enforcement at our sites

Deputy Superintendent Daniel Unertl told Patch that the district worked with the Oak Creek Police and Fire and Rescue Departments to formulate this grant proposal, and said the Department of Justice's Office of School Safety was extremely helpful and easy to work with, despite the newness of their task.

Provisions of Gov. Walker's School Safety Plan:

• Creates an Office of School Safety within the Wisconsin Department of Justice to work with law enforcement and schools to establish best practices for school safety and provide training opportunities and other relevant resources to schools.
• Provides $100 million to fund a new grant program for security upgrades to school buildings and other eligible costs.
• Mandates reporting for any threats of school violence.
• Allows grant funding to implement Trauma-Informed Care and Adverse Childhood Experiences in Schools.

• Strengthens school safety plan requirements by requiring all schools to consult with local law enforcement and conduct on-site assessments of all pupil occupied areas.

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