City Schools Land $1.3 Million Grant to Tighten Security at All School Buildings

Pueblo City Schools will have much tighter security and state-of-the-art fire alarms when students return in August, thanks in part to a $1.3 million grant from the Colorado Department of Education.

The money comes from the Building Excellent Schools Today program.

Mark Gazette, director of facilities for the Pueblo school district, says he will present the program to the Board of Education at its April meeting. The board will be asked to approve the plans and match the state money with $240,000 from the district’s capital budget.

By the start of the new school year, each campus will have doors that, once bells ring and children are inside, may only be accessed by people with cards or by being unlocked by school staff members after visitors are identified over a video system.

During the school day, all doors will be locked, and even card-access points will be limited. Gazette says the money also will be used to upgrade fire-alarm systems.

Both the security program and the new fire alarms were included in plans during the recent bond-issue work, so much of the wiring is already in place, he says. A

Other Southern Colorado districts receiving BEST grants are:

• Alamosa School District RE-11J to build two new elementary schools, replacing three elementary schools.
• Sangre de Cristo School District RE-22J for a new pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade school.
• Holly School District RE-3 for a partial roof replacement.
• Sargent School District RE-33J for a new junior/senior high school and elementary school renovation.