WENTWORTH, N.C. — Rockingham County Schools spends millions of dollars each school year to keep students safe.
"It's as important as educating our children because if we can't keep them safe, how can we teach them and educate them?" said Rockingham County Schools PIO, Adam Powell.
New state grants will allow the district to add more security measures.
The first totals $587,978 and will be used for radios, cameras, WiFi Hotspots and reunification kits.
The second grant totals $599,900 and will allow the district to hire more school resource officers for elementary schools.
"Certainly the risk of violence is much less at elementary schools compared to high school and middle schools, as far as the day-to-day incident thing. But at the same time we have to be prepared for anything," said Powell.
Currently, all middle and high schools have a dedicated SRO.
But three SRO's have to split their time throughout the district's thirteen elementary schools.
"If children feel safe, they can learn, and the teachers feel safe they can teach," said Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page.
Reidsville Police, Eden Police and the Rockingham County Sheriff's office will hire the new officers.
Sheriff Page says hiring the right person to fill each position will be the biggest challenge.
"You can't put just anybody in the school. You want somebody, number one, who likes working with kids and number two, someone who's got experience and could be helpful to not only the kids but the teachers and the principals," said Sheriff Page.
Since this money is coming from grants, the funds will eventually dry up.
The district says the money should last one school year, then the school board will have to reallocate funds in its budget to keep these officers in schools.
Dr. Stephanie Ellis, Executive Director of Behavioral Health and Crisis Intervention for Rockingham County Schools spearheaded the efforts to apply for the grants.
"We are also grateful for our law enforcement partners in Rockingham County and we look forward to having a School Resource Officer in every elementary school. We have a SRO in every middle and high school, and now this grant is making it possible for our SROs to be in every elementary school," said Dr. Ellis, "We will continue to seek opportunities that benefit our students and keep our school safety efforts at the forefront.”
School leaders say it will likely be next year before each school will have their dedicated SRO.