Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

South Dakota Receives $2 Million for School Security

  • By Yvonne Marquez
  • 10/16/19

South Dakota received three grants totaling $2 million to help school districts prevent and address threats of violence.

The South Dakota Department of Public Safety received the grants from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance’s STOP School Violence Program.      

“These grants will be incredibly beneficial in our schools and better equip us to provide resources and training in the areas of violence prevention and threat recognition,” Gov. Kristi Noem said in a press release. “While we hope our schools never experience violence, it is important we equip them with the resources they need to enhance safety and prepare teachers and students to recognize potential threats.”

These are the three different grants:

  • $998,000 will help the state establish a School Safety Resource Center. The center will distribute the best practices for school safety, handle requests for threat recognition training, requests for physical security assessments for K-12 school buildings.
  • $500,000 will establish prevention and mental health training programs with the help from mental health professionals.
  • $500,000 will focus on technology and threat assessment solutions for school programs.

The grant money cannot be used to purchase weapons, equipment, or fund salaries for school resource officers. The programs will be run by the state’s Office of Homeland of Security.

About the Author

Yvonne Marquez is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Porter Family Center

    Porter Family Center for Innovation and Academics

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The Porter Family Center for Innovation and Academics has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.

  • Tennessee Middle School Completes Health, Life Safety Renovations

    The Giles County Board of Education in Pulaski, Tenn., recently announced that a series of renovation projects has been completed at Bridgeforth Middle School, according to a news release. The district partnered with Wold Architects & Engineers and Brindley Construction to modernize building systems at one of the district’s oldest schools.

  • abstract illustration of school gym

    How the Gymnasium Can Serve as a Model for Learning Space Design

    Multipurpose gyms work because flexibility was built into the brief from the start, not retrofitted later. The same logic applies to academic spaces.

  • Campus Safety Requires Using Every Resource Available

    Across the U.S., school and campus leaders are facing a security landscape that has changed dramatically over the past decade. Incidents on school property have increased in recent years, with several consecutive years setting record totals. According to analysis of data by CNN, dozens of shootings now occur on school grounds annually across K-12 and higher education environments.