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A majority of the preparations for the 2018-2019 school year are complete, and school will soon be starting for over 2,500 students in the Marshall Public School District. School safety has been a major focus over the summer months, and we will maintain this focus during the school year as well.
School safety is a recurring discussion that started as far back as 2012 (possibly earlier) in our district, largely because the safety of students and staff is our No. 1 priority. There have been a number of terribly unfortunate events involving tragedies at schools, including shootings, across the nation recently. These events have certainly influenced how, and how often, schools carefully review and examine every aspect of their safety planning. Our district's commitment to safety is included in our strategic plan -- "We believe in a safe, respectful and trusting learning environment."
We will be submitting nearly $1.5 million in grant applications to the Minnesota Department of Education to improve school safety at our five buildings/sites. Through an appropriation of $25 million from the 2018 legislative session, our district, as a "non-metro school district," has the opportunity to apply for grants for up to $500,000 per school building through a competitive School Safety Grant application process. We plan to submit an application for each of our five sites -- Park Side, West Side, Marshall Middle School, Marshall Area Technical Education Center, and Marshall High School.
Our grant applications focus on a secure outer perimeter at each site -- so, keeping unwanted visitors/intruders out of the buildings. The grant applications include these items: access controls (visitor management/accountability systems), door alarm systems/sensors that can notify (audibly or electronically) personnel that a door is unsecured, door entry systems (FOB), door hardware upgrades (electronic locking capability or improved integrity of doors and glass at main entrance and vestibule areas), equipping school personnel with electronic emergency notification systems (mobile applications), physical structure changes to main entrances that funnel building access into main offices for credentialing procedures), and visual notification systems (warning lights on exterior spaces like playgrounds and recess areas) that let people outside know not to come into the building.
Grant applications for Park Side, Marshall Middle School and Marshall High School include physical structure changes to funnel (re-route) building access into the main offices for credentialing purposes. Applications for all sites include all access controls, door alarm systems, door entry systems, door hardware upgrades (including improved integrity of doors and glass), emergency notification systems and visual notification systems.
The amount of the grant applications at each site (currently) are Park Side -- $426,470, West Side -- $180,190, Marshall Middle School -- $490,670, MATEC -- $99,370, and Marshall High School -- $286,970. This is a cumulative total of $1,483,670, and we anticipate all work would be completed prior to the start of the 2020-2021 school year, with a goal of having it done one year earlier.
Although some may tend to take school safety for granted at times, we know and understand that no organization is exempt from the potential for violence in today's world. We take seriously the responsibility for the safety of our students, staff and sites, and we will continue to look at all potential opportunities to improve school safety in our school district.
Thank you for taking time to read this and for the support shown for the Marshall Public School District. Go Tigers!