HARRISBURG, Oct. 28, 2013 – In the wake of the one-year anniversary of the unforgettable and deadly shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the Pennsylvania Department of Education is accepting applications for grants of up to $25,000 for schools in Berks County and throughout Pennsylvania to help make their classrooms and hallways safer, Sen. Judy Schwank said today.
“We live every day hoping nothing as tragic as Sandy Hook will ever be repeated,” said Sen. Schwank. “But the thing that’s better to do than just hope is to plan and take steps to prevent a nightmare from happening in our schools.
“I encourage schools in Berks County to strongly consider this opportunity and apply for a grant to better underscore the ‘safe’ in safe schools.”
The application deadline for the targeted grants is Dec. 6.
The Department of Education’s Office for Safe Schools says the money can be used for a variety of initiatives, including conflict resolution and dispute management; violence prevention curricula; classroom management; and the development of comprehensive, district-wide school safety and violence prevention plans.
Grants will be paid through the state’s E-grant system.
“An ounce of prevention, a moment of preparedness; we must move forward in our schools to be as sure as we can be that arrangements have been made to keep our kids safe,” Schwank said. “Hoping it doesn’t happen isn’t good enough.”
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More information on Sen. Schwank is available on her website, Facebook and Twitter.