Gov. DeWine Awards District $1M Safety Grant
Gov. Mike DeWine today announced that Lakewood City Schools will receive a $1 million grant as part of the state’s fourth round of awards from the Ohio School Safety Grants program. Gov. DeWine traveled to Lakewood to make the announcement at a press conference at Lakewood High School.
Gov. Mike DeWine today announced that Lakewood City Schools will receive a $1 million grant as part of the state’s fourth round of awards from the Ohio School Safety Grants program. Gov. DeWine traveled to Lakewood to make the announcement at a press conference at Lakewood High School.
Gov. DeWine was joined at the press conference by Superintendent Maggie Niedzwiecki, Board of Education President Michael J. Callahan, Treasurer Kent Zeman, Lakewood Mayor Meghan George, City Council President John Litten and Police Chief Kevin Kaucheck.
“Security is a very important thing and it takes time and commitment and we appreciate the work the superintendent has done and that the chief has done.” Gov. DeWine said in announcing the grant for the District, one of 945 in the round of $68 million overall.
The District plans to use the grant money to upgrade the locks of many of its buildings’ classroom doors, to install ballistic window film on the high school cafeteria windows and to add a signal booster to our radio network to improve communication between our Safety Resource Officers and the City of Lakewood Police Department.
Superintendent Maggie Niedzwiecki spoke to the urgency of addressing school security in her comments at the press conference:
“Without a doubt, the most pressing issue in schools today is safety,” Niedzwiecki said. “Not a day goes by that superintendents nationwide aren’t thinking about, planning and prioritizing how they can ensure they are doing enough to keep their students and staff safe….I hope all schools throughout Ohio will be as fortunate as we are today.”
The upgrades that will be made possible by this grant are on top of other security measures that the District has instituted, including building safety teams, a safety audit, improved visitor monitoring system and added electronic doors, among other moves.
The governor also met with the Lakewood High School First Ring Collaborative Student Leadership Institute group as well as members of the Broadcast Journalism class as part of his visit.