CCSD receives more than $1 million for school safety improvements

The Carson City School District is putting to use a $1.5 million grant for school safety improvements. The gran was given by the Nevada Department of Education and supports recommendations from the Department of Homeland Security.

$600,000 of the grant money will go to two additional School Resource Officers and the remaining $500,000 will fund facility safety improvements.

"We brought on three SRO's under a DOJ grant three years ago and that grant is now coming to a close in December so this allows us to build on that bringing us to a total of five so we're really happy about that," Ann Cyr, Risk Manager for CCSD, says.

The grant is in collaboration with the Carson City Sheriff's Office. All SRO's are experienced deputies and report to the sheriff's office.

"It's a very sound move that law enforcement and school districts are joining hands to make sure that our children are safe and they have avenues to report concerns of theirs that will get to the right people as fast as possible," Carson City Sheriff, Kenny Furlong, says.

All CCSD schools already are single point entry, but Furlong says have more boots on the ground will help deputies be more effective should the unexpected happen.

"While construction has been improved to safeguard the environment they still remain vulnerable to aggressive entry points and we've seen this in shootings all across the country," he says. "Don't think that one point is the only entry we have to cover the entire environment."

Furlong says he hopes to continue to foster a safe environment where students, teachers and staff feel comfortable asking a deputy for help.

"We in Carson City have one philosophy and that's that our schools are safest when our children are at their desks and that is the drive the primary objective that we pursue so that we have that overall school safety within reach," he says.