The Carroll County School District has spent approximately $4 million on safety and security issues over the last two years and will now add more measures in the coming months.

Carroll County Schools Assistant Superintendent Terry Jones told WLBB radio that past projects included upgrading camera systems and adding access controls.

Jones said, “They helped us harden the outside of school facilities.”

Now, the school district is investing close to $1 million in a new district-wide security system, which according to Jones, is designed to provide teachers and students with a level of comfort inside school buildings.

“This system will give all of our staff members an opportunity to call for help and there is a GPS system with it so that when a teacher or staff member sends the alert, it comes up over the administration phones as well as our SROs’ phone,” said Jones.

“It will actually show the staff member’s name and location and they can respond to a situation, whether it be a health related situation, if a student gets hurt on the playground, or if there is an altercation in a classroom.”

The new system provides each in-school employee with their own alert device worn on a lanyard.

“Now along with that the teacher will also be able to notify administration that they have a lock-down type situation. In that particular situation, it would send the alert out to the administration as well as the SRO and then there will be strobes positioned throughout the building. The strobes will go off to let all staff and students know that we are in a lock-down type situation, so that they can move to their nearest secure sight.”

Jones expects the new system to be functioning district-wide by the beginning of the second semester.