WASHINGTON — Mill Creek Township School District in Pennsylvania plans to upgrade its surveillance cameras, radios and a door monitoring system with a $500,000 federal grant, one of hundreds awarded across the country over the past four years as part of a $1 billion program Congress passed to address school violence.
But Superintendent Ian Roberts said the grant won’t cover upgrades like security vestibules on its more than 40 entrances at 10 schools, and the district can’t afford that immediately. “From an infrastructure standpoint, there’s still some things that are lacking in this and other districts,” Roberts said.
Congress now appears poised to spend even more to bolster physical security at local schools in response to a recent wave of mass shootings, although Democrats and some public health experts have doubted the effectiveness of those measures in stopping active shooters.
