Inside INdiana Business is reporting that Governor Eric Holcomb has unveiled a new program designed to boost school safety throughout the state. The program, which will be administered by the Indiana State Police and Indiana Department of Administration, will make handheld metal detectors available at no cost to schools.
Holcomb’s office says traditional public, charter, and accredited non-public schools will be eligible to receive one handheld metal detector device for every 250 students upon request. The first devices will be delivered to schools who request them by mid-August.
“Controlling what comes into our school buildings is just one important part of keeping our schools safe, and our efforts to assist school corporations must be ongoing and evolving,” Holcomb said in a news release. “Local officials are best positioned to determine their school safety needs and the measures that make sense for their students and communities, and—for many—these handheld metal detectors could make a substantial difference.”
The program, the governor says, is one of several actions taken by the state over the past year to improve school safety. Those efforts include more than $14 million in matching grants to schools recently approved by the Indiana Secured School Safety Board. That funding includes an additional $5 million provided by the Indiana General Assembly this year.
You can view the list of grant recipients by clicking here.
Holcomb’s office says the school safety task force commissioned in April will deliver its recommendations for action in August ahead of the 2019 legislative session.