Bartlett ISD awarded $365K federal grant for security upgrades

BARTLETT, Texas (KWTX) - Bartlett ISD has been awarded a nearly $364,891 federal grant to fund security upgrades across the district.

According to Assistant Superintendent Austin Crawley, the grant comes from the School Violence Prevention Program through the Department of Justice. He says they first applied for it two years ago.

“We did not get it... we still wanted to apply again and so we went through the application process this year and fortunately we were awarded the grant,” Crawley said.

The district will add another $120,000 of its own funds, bringing the total security investment to approximately $486,000.

Superintendent Doctor Teddy Clevenger says these funds will make a big difference, especially with rural schools like theirs that struggle with money.

“This grant overall just really does help us to bolster our safety and security and get it where it needs to be,” Clevenger said.

Crawley explains that with this money the district’s primary focus will be to upgrade their public address system.

“That’s gonna be the biggest need, is just making sure that we readily make announcements and notify staff and students if there’s some sort of a concern,” Crawley shared.

Dr. Clevenger says the district also plans to install a new key card access system, even though all entries are already secured at all times.

“Having key card access you can put those key card access terminals on a timer, and so they can be open for a couple of minutes to let kids out and then they lock immediately,” he explained, “and when you use key card access it’s timestamped of who came in, when they came in”.

The district will also upgrade existing security cameras and add cameras to their new facilities built as part of their 2022 school bond.

“We got a brand new cafeteria that needs cameras on the inside and the outside, we got a brand new football stadium that we need some cameras out there, concessions and bathrooms,” Clevenger said.

Crawley adding that the additional cameras will provide better visibility throughout the district, which is “important for school safety and security”.

The district is now working on a plan for how to allocate the grant money, Dr. Clevenger sharing that once finished the improvements will help create a better learning environment.

“Teachers need to feel safe to teach, kids need to feel safe to learn, and when we feel safe then I think we can teach better and we can learn better at higher levels,” he said.

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