- Prairie View High School
- Homepage
27J Schools awarded $870,000 in grants from Colorado Division of Homeland Security
27J Schools is continually striving to best serve its students, teachers and parents. Recently the District was awarded two separate grants from the Colorado Division of Homeland Security.
The first grant, awarded through the School Safety Disbursement Grant in the amount of $349,734, will allow for the purchase of additional interoperable radios, extending the warranties on certain components of the District’s current radio system and provide funds for repair services and battery replacements for existing radios. The grant also provides training opportunities, over multiple years, for District personnel and first responders in the use of the radios.
Interoperable radios allows district personnel to directly communicate between schools and with first responders during an emergency.
The second grant, awarded by the School Access For Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant Program in the amount of $520,280, provides funds to upgrade and improve radio infrastructure during crisis communications. This feature will allow school safety team members to “bridge” between other sites and users remotely without the use of a computer. School and district safety teams will have the ability to talk to first responders via two-way radio, as needed, when interoperability bridge is activated by public safety. Some radios will be capable of independent access to school-wide intercom/PA system when needed.
The grant also provides funds to assist Landmark and Foundation Academies to participate in the interoperable radio program, additional training opportunities, warranties and back-up power equipment.
These additional funds, totaling $870,014, will greatly enhance the functionality of 27J’s interoperable system and provide for a multi-year sustainable repair and maintenance schedule. Overall, the additional grant funding allows the school district to maintain compliance with several areas of the school response framework described in the Colorado Safe Schools Act. The District’s initial investment in the interoperable radio system was funded through the 2015 School Construction Bond in the amount of $529,257.