Three Lehigh County districts and a school are among the statewide recipients of recently-announced school safety grant funding. WDIY’s Sarit Laschinsky has more.
Gov. Josh Shapiro recently announced that over $8 million in competitive Safe Schools Targeted grants have been awarded to 166 schools across Pennsylvania.
According to a release from his office, the grants aim to improve school safety, and the funding can go toward purchasing safety equipment, implementing new programs, and hiring security personnel and school resource officers, among other uses.
In Lehigh County, the largest funding amounts went to the Northern Lehigh School District and Parkland School District, both of which received $75,000 in grant funding.
Northern Lehigh’s funding is intended for hiring school police officers, while Parkland’s is for hiring school resource officers.
Catasauqua Area School District received over $49,000 in equipment and/or program grant funding, while the Jewish Day School Received $45,570 in IU nonpublic equipment and/or program funding.
Shapiro’s office said grants assist schools in reducing unnecessary student disciplinary actions and promoting an “environment of greater productivity, safety and learning.”
The funding also enhances anti-violence efforts between schools and parents, local governments, law enforcement and community organizations.
(Original air-date: 2/13/23)
