Onalaska School District doubles request for safety grant funding

The Onalaska School District is requesting more school safety grant money.

The initial request was $100,000 but, with the realization that more was available, that request was doubled.

The district hopes the money will cover increasing camera coverage at schools, mental health training for teachers and updating the wireless, two-way radio system to better communicate with staff outside in case of an emergency.

“We have people out on the playground at various times and we just want to make sure we have good communication should there be any kind of incident,” Director of Business Services Kent Ellickson said.

Ellickson says a group of 12-15 people got together and figured out what needs would best apply to the grant.

With the first round of grants, the district invested in technology alerting staff when a door was left open.

The school board allowed the district to increase the requested funds, when it became clear that the grant fund had more money than anticipated.