The Department of Justice has issued a new grant program under the Student, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act Program.  The purpose of this program is to improve efforts to reduce violent crime through the creation of school threat assessment teams and the use of technology to anonymously report suspicious activity regarding school violence.  Eligible applicants for this funding are limited to states, units of local governments, and federally recognized Indian tribes.  Funded applicants can subaward funds to local educational agencies and/or nonprofits.

Under the Technology and Anonymous Reporting Category, proposed projects must establish an anonymous reporting system available via mobile phone, hotline, or website that will enable students, teachers, faculty, and community members to anonymously identify school threats.  Where feasible, the system can also be utilized as an incident response and management notification system.  Federal funds cannot exceed 75% of the total costs of the project while the remaining 25% is the required local match.

On September 28, 2018, the County was notified that its grant application has been approved contingent upon meeting several special conditions.  In consultation with the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office, the Spotsylvania County Schools have identified several vendors that can provide a 2-way crisis communication platform. Specifically they are seeking a platform that will provide an anonymous tip line, provide an alert tool for every staff member in the school, provide 2-way communication between the schools and first responders, provide an accountability and unification tracking system, and provide resources for safety education and training. In addition, the program requires that travel and lodging expenses be included in the budget for a maximum of three people to attend training in Washington D.C.

If the grant is accepted, funding will subsequently be subawarded to the Spotsylvania County Schools who will be able to meet the 25% local match requirement of up to $31,824 through the use of their annual School Division Adopted Budget – Instructional Technology.  The following chart provides a summary of the anticipated project costs:

If accepted the grant award will expire on September 30, 2021. At the conclusion of the grant, the Spotsylvania County School Division will include sustainment costs for the project in their annual Instructional Technology budget submissions.

The award requires that several special conditions must be met before any funds can be obligated or expended.  One of these conditions is that the County will be required to enter into a subaward agreement with the Schools.  Once all of the special conditions have been met, the subaward agreement, budget adjustment, and appropriation will be presented to the Board of Supervisors for their consideration.

At this time there is no financial impact as this is a request to accept the grant award.  The County and Schools still need to meet several special conditions before any funds can be obligated or expended.  If at a later date the County wishes to withdraw from the award, a request to deobligate the federal funds can be submitted.

If the request to accept the grant award is denied, Spotsylvania County will forego the opportunity use federal funds to enhance the safety of students and staff within the School Division.