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To help bolster school safety, the Carroll County Board of Supervisors will fund $250,000 worth of security upgrades in the county’s public school system in Fiscal Year 2013.

During the Carroll County Board of Supervisors’ meeting March 11, Fancy Gap District Supervisor Phil McCraw brought up the subject of school safety. He said the budget committees of both the Carroll County Board of Supervisors and Carroll County School Board met on March 6. He said the board of supervisors had set aside $150,000 in its Capital Improvement Plan for 2014 and $100,000 in 2015 for security upgrades in the school system. But during the meeting, he said the decision was made to move all of that funding to the current Fiscal Year.

“Because we all think it is such a high priority, we have moved it all to 2013 and they’re going to be installing the security system, buzzing people in, swipe keys and a whole lot of other things,” McCraw said. “I hope they can get it all complete by the beginning of the school year this fall.”

Additionally, McCraw said the School Board is in the process of installing jake brakes on the four school buses that will travel south on U.S. 52 down Fancy Gap Mountain beginning this fall. Also known as Jacobs brakes, jake brakes are an engine braking mechanism.

“That is part of school safety, too,” McCraw said. “We are trying to do everything we can to ensure the safety of our children. School safety has to be our number one priority. We don’t want to do a halfway job. We want to do everything we can to ensure the safety of our children and teachers.”