![]() “The threat to our school was gone the day of the shooting,” Rachael Kares said.Īssociated Press reporter Josh Funk contributed from Omaha, Neb. One student who fled jazz band rehearsal when gunshots rang out at Perry said she will feel safe going back when high school resumes next week. That is taking three months or longer for buildings inspected by the state fire marshal’s office, which was recently moved to a new department. A state official apologized to school officials during a meeting last year for that backlog.Īnother requirement is slowing down projects: Physical changes to schools must be approved for compliance with Iowa’s fire code. Some assessments emailed by Tetra Tech were lost in the spam folders of school administrators or faced several weeks or months of delays getting the state’s review and approval. “It is a federal grant, so of course there’s obviously a lot of little headaches that go with it,” department director John Benson told applicants last year. The agency said it was too small to handle the workload. The state has paid $1.6 million to AG Witt, a company helping run the program with Iowa’s Homeland Security Department. Winfield Mount Union Community School District, which recently announced it will cut back to a four-day school week in the next academic year, added cameras and panic buttons with its $100,000. ![]() The district in Gilbert received the most, $194,000, which went toward surveillance cameras, new entry systems and door controls. ![]() 19, the program had paid $950,000 to 18 school districts for improvements at 43 buildings, most of them small and rural. Perry’s $150,000 is among $20.6 million the state has awarded for upgrades at hundreds of school buildings across Iowa, but payments for completed work have been far less to date. Kollin Crompton, a spokesperson for the governor, noted that until a district submits an application, the state cannot take any action. “After the tragedy in Perry, we are continuing to look for opportunities to make the process more efficient and effective,” said Allie Bright, spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, which oversees the program. The district had started the process more than a year ago but didn’t complete the paperwork. A state agency last week sent a representative to help Perry district officials finish their application for a $150,000 grant through Reynolds’ program. 4 school shooting left two dead and several injured. The AP found that most schools statewide have yet to receive funding, including those in Perry, a city of 8,000 people where a Jan. Contractors helping run the program, meanwhile, have received millions. This was partly because local officials struggled to meet state and federal requirements to complete their applications, according to records reviewed by The Associated Press. More than 19 months and two deadly Iowa school shootings later, the money only recently started to trickle out, with the vast majority still unspent.
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