State Awards Farmington with School Security Grant Money

Farmington Public Schools did not initially receive funding from Connecticut's School Security Grant Program, but the school district was recently awarded funding after Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced more state funding for the grant program in Farmington last week.

Now Farmington will receive $228,119 to help pay for school security investments in equipment and building infrastructures in the district.

The grant is part of the Gun Violence Prevention and Children's Safety Act post-Newtown tragedy.

 “This allows us to continue to get resources out to the cities and towns that have begun work to modernize their security infrastructure and ramp up safety procedures at school buildings in the wake of the horrific events on December 14th," Malloy said in a previous press release. 

“The safety of our children and staff is the Board of Education’s highest priority," she said. "We thank Governor Malloy for making these funds available to school districts as well as Chair Jeffrey Hogan and our Town Council for ensuring that implementation of our security plan was a collaborative process in Farmington. The genuine cooperation between Superintendent Greider, Town Manager Eagen and Chief of Police Melanson and their staff has produced a security plan worthy of this nearly $230,000 grant.”

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Superintendent Kathleen Greider and the board called for a "comprehensive safety and security review with an outside security expert" in collaboration with the Farmington Police Department and Police Chief Paul Melanson. 

 “We are excited to learn that the town has been chosen to receive the school security grant," Melanson said. "The grant funds will allow us to pursue school security recommendations in a much more aggressive time frame than had originally been proposed.”

The school has since adopted many security improvements as a result of the plan that it has not released in its entirety for safety reasons. 

“The safety of our students and faculty is of utmost importance to the school district," Grieder said. "We are very pleased to receive this important grant funding to continue Farmington’s implementation of our comprehensive security review’s recommendations. The Farmington Board of Education, Police Department and Town Council’s proactive and collaborative work allowed administration to apply for and be awarded this security grant.”

Town Council Chairman Jeffrey Hogan said that he's "thrilled' the district received grant money.

"This award recognizes the quality of that plan and will help to carry out the next steps," Hogan said. "The BOE and the Town have a shared responsibility to provide security and this grant recognizes that Farmington, as a community, has collaborative policy and strategy to ensure that goal.”