Marple Newtown Schools Get $40K For Safety Enhancements

BROOMALL, PA — Millions in grant funding was awarded to school districts across Pennsylvania for school safety and security enhancements from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, and the Marple Newtown School District got a cut of the funding.

The Marple Newtown School District received $40,000 in grant funds.

These funds will be used for school-wide positive behavior support that includes primary or universal, secondary and tertiary supports and interventions in school entities; and staff training programs in the use of positive behavior supports, de-escalation techniques and appropriate responses to student behavior that may require immediate intervention.

Overall, the commission gave $53.7 million in school safety and security grants to 524 school entities, as well as $7.5 million in community violence prevention/reduction grants to 30 organizations throughout the Pennsylvania.

Schools were eligible to apply for programs designed to reduce community violence, including increasing access to trauma-informed support services and behavioral health care, providing health services and intervention strategies, providing mentoring and other intervention models, and fostering communication between school entities, their community and law enforcement.

Projects were required to support initiatives such as performing school safety assessments; purchasing security-related technology and equipment; supporting school safety-related and behavioral-health trainings; preparing all-hazards plans; hiring school resource officers, school police officers, school counselors, social workers and school psychologists; and providing for trauma-informed approaches to education.