MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County School District (CCSD) received a Safer Georgia Schools grant totaling $250,000, which is the maximum that’s awarded.

The grant stems from the availability of funds that came from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, which provided money to the United States Department of Education, who in turn, allocated the funds to every state education agency. The Georgia Department of Education created the Safer Georgia Schools Grant with the funds.

According to a press release from the CCSD, “…the grant is intended to support the health and safety of students in Georgia through programs, activities, equipment, and supplies to improve infrastructure, professional development, and personnel.”

“The grant will be used to sustain the current programs in place for now,” said Angela Hobby, chief officer of district and employee relations.

The two safety programs in place that will be supplemented by the grant are a partnership with the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office to provide 11 school resource officers across all school locations and the school district’s use of the Centegix Crisis Alert system.

“This grant will allow us to ensure that our schools will have the resources to continue providing top-notch safety,” stated Colquitt County Sheriff Rod Howell in the press release from the school system.

The crisis alert system lets individual employees in all locations of the school system quickly request help in an emergency situation through a wearable badge that they carry with them. The alert that is triggered is floor- and room-specific for the emergency response teams’ use. Visual strobes, digital messages, and automated intercom announcements can also be activated to alert everyone in the building of a campus-wide incident and what actions to take. Both the Sheriff’s Department and the Moultrie Police Department have access to and are part of the Ceantegix Crisis Alert System and also have emergency access to school cameras in the event of a crisis.

“The district has partnered closely with the Moultrie Police Department and the Sheriff’s Office to prepare for emergencies and evaluate ways to make all our schools safer,” the CCSD press release also stated.

In a support letter to the CCSD, Moultrie Police Chief Sean Ladson stated, “The Safer Georgia Schools Grant will allow the district to continue what they have started and provide the means to meet goals in providing the safest schools possible.”