VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Valley City Public School District is one of 103 school districts across the nation to receive the COPS School Safety Grant.
Superintendent Josh Johnson said the grant awarded to the school district was more than $200-thousand dollars. He talked about what areas need safety improvements with reporter Steve Urness.
The Valley City School board unanimously approved the COPS School Safety Grant at their meeting on Wednesday, November 13th.
The COPS Office School Violence Prevention Program provides funding to improve security at school across the nation.
The following is a message from Superintendent Josh Johnson.
Parents, and Community,
We know that each and every day, our school district has been entrusted by you, with keeping all students safe at Valley City Public Schools. Over the past many years, the Valley City Public School District has made specific efforts to address areas of safety concerns, issues, and needs to maintain this trust and allow for our students (and employees) to be engaged in a positive learning atmosphere. While these efforts have allowed us to make many improvements, we also acknowledge that we must continue to improve and meet the ever-changing safety needs of our students. Today, another school shooting tragedy occurred at a high school in the state of California. We send out thoughts and prayers to those affected by this unthinkable act of terror. We also hope and pray that a tragedy such as this will NEVER occur in our schools, community, and state. Unfortunately, the number of incidents say otherwise, and we continue to prepare and implement prevention measures to stop these actions from happening at VCPS.
Yesterday morning, the Valley City Public Schools Board approved a Federal COPS Grant in the amount of $286,000. This grant, awarded to Valley City Public Schools, allows us to upgrade our school communication systems, security systems, access door control, classroom door hardware, visitor management systems, emergency training/preparations, and school bus safety. VCPS received 1 of the 103 awards distributed to schools, organizations, offices spread across 49 states in the country. Thank you to NewsDakota for covering this important story yesterday at our school board meeting and providing the link to their website where our parents and community can access more information about the grant. The implementation of these measures has already began and will continue in earnest for the next two school years. The Federal COPS Grant will support another $86,000 State Homeland Security Grant that Valley City Public Schools applied for and received in the summer of 2019. The non-matching state grant will allow us to immediately address the facility needs in our school district in areas similar to the list above.
Valley City Public Schools takes great pride in honoring the trust that parents and our community provides to our teachers, counselors, principals, staff, school resource officer (Sean Hagen) and school board members to keep our students safe in an enriching learning environment. Please know that our school safety efforts will continue beyond the items specified in this grant and our district will continue to emphasize the importance of training for our students and staff. A couple of attachments have been added to this email and detail efforts our district has made since 2016, including the addition of a School Resource Officer in 2017. If you have ANY questions regarding school safety, our safety grants, and the information that has been provided to you please don't hesitate to reach out to our district. I can be reached by email at josh.johnson@k12.nd.us or by phone at 701.845.0483 or links can be found on our school website to school board members and/or additional staff contact information.
Sincerely,
Josh Johnson
Superintendent
Valley City Public Schools
(701) 845-0483