Federal grant will help with school and bus security

Thanks to the largest single grant ever awarded to Brick, the school district will be able to enhance its emergency communications and defer some of the cost of a Global Positioning System.

"This grant shows the cooperation between the township and the school district that we're trying to achieve," SuperintendentWalter J. Hrycenko said recently.

The police department and school district received $285,000 as recipients of a Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice.

That amount matches the $285,000 the district had budgeted for the improvements.

Brick Police Chief Nils R Berquist explained why the communications improvements are needed at the board's Dec. 18 meeting.

"Right now, police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians can't communicate in or out in certain spots at Brick Township Memorial High School," Berquist said. "It's a small gap, but an expensive fix."

The grant will allow the township and school district to purchase antennas and amplifiers, which will aid in emergency communications.

"There are dead spots in certain parts of that school," district transportation director Joseph Sangiovanni said last week. "A patrolman on one side of the school can't communicate with a patrolman on the other side of the school with a walkie-talkie.

The grant will also offset 50 percent of the cost of a GPS system, which will allow the district to track the 123 buses its puts on the road every school day.

Sangiovanni said the district will know where all of its buses are at all times — if they break down, go off route or if they're stopped and idling too long.

"That's important when the price of diesel fuel is $5 a gallon," he said.

Additionally, a card swipe system will be installed on all of the districts 139 buses, which will track the district's students who ride the school buses.

"It's a great security piece," Sangiovanni said. "We can track kids whereabouts, whether they're on the right buses and make sure there isn't anyone on a bus that shouldn't be there."

Sangiovanni said that right now the district is looking for technology that will support a student's identification card, lunch card, library card and bus pass.

"We need to find a system that will marry all of those different pieces on one card," he said. "We want to get everything on one card."

The system will also automate a bus driver's daily safety checklist that is currently completed manually.

"We'll be able to make sure that a driver is checking everything," Sangiovanni said. "So if there's a tire with low pressure, we'll know it immediately."

From a transportation planning standpoint, the district will get a better handle on knowing how many buses it needs each year based on real data, he said.

Sangiovanni said that the district will begin preparing bid specifications. He expects the new systems to be ready in time for the start of the new school year in September.