To: Allegheny-Clarion Valley School District Staff and Community

From: Dr. David McDeavitt

Subject: Safety Grant Update

The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) has funding for School Safety and Security Program to support School Mental Health & Safety and Security Grants for the 2022-2023 school year. School entities are eligible to apply for these funds to address mental health initiatives and physical security enhancements (Retrieved from https://www.pccd.pa.gov/schoolsafety/Pages/School-Safety-and-Security-Grants-Program.aspx).   

A-CV applied and have been awarded $109,458 for both Mental Health and Physical/Safety & Security for a total of $218,916 for safety related upgrades. The application and grant was submitted in the fall of 2022, and our school district has recently been approved.  

Below are a list of items that were approved in the grant:

Mental Health

A-CV will be using the mental health grant to provide additional Social Worker Supports for our students.  This grant is used to add additional days to the current social workers who has been in the district working with our students, and supporting our school counselors.  Additional information about social workers in Pennsylvania can be found at https://www.education.pa.gov/Educators/Certification/CertFAQs/Pages/SchoolSocialWorkerCertificationFAQ.aspx. 

We are also exploring other mental health supports for our students and are considering a collaborative approach with Glad Run to offer a License Therapist, IU6 License Professional Counselor, and/or School-Based Therapist for 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years. The grant will also be used to purchase additional reading material for the Elementary School Counselor’s office.

In addition, we are planning to add the Rhithm program for the 2023-2024 school year.  The Rhithm program is an online program that will be used by students to “check in” during homerooms. The “check in” will only take a few minutes and will provide our teachers and counsel’s with immediate and confidential feedback about student’s mental health needs. Rhithm promotes student well-being and provides learning lessons in a simple way, without interfering with our academic goals. Rhithm empowers counselors, social workers and leaders to increase their awareness, efficacy and efficiency through evidence-based decision-making (Retrieved from https://www.psba.org/rhithm/).   

Physical Safety and Security

This grant will be used to renew our partnership with the Emlenton Borough and to contract with their Chief of Police, Mike Mills. Both the A-CV School Board and Emlenton Borough have approved this arrangement. Chief Mills will be on campus 10 hours per week, Chief Mills comes to us with years of police officer experience and will be used to offer additional safety supports and will help the school safety coordinator in updating safety procedures on campus, and off.  Chief Mills will be on campus during the day and also supervise various afterschool and evening activities. 

The grant will also be used to purchase a new SUV for the school police officer to help monitor campus during the day and travel between the two schools. The school principals, counselors, and attendance officers will be able to use this vehicle for home visits, and for various professional development opportunities. 

Finally, we are also upgrading our safety related communication systems. The district will be adding 8 horn speakers outside of the buildings for better communication for all outside activities; such as, physical education classes, playground, track and parking lots. 12 IP Color Visual Alerter’s will be added to areas such as the cafeteria/kitchen, auditorium, and other areas that have difficulties hearing an announcement. The paging systems, multimedia intercom, and bell scheduler will be replaced and upgraded, and 8 new emergency call buttons will be installed in the office areas.  In addition, we are planning to upgrade all of the classroom and office area phones through a three year agreement with KAPP.

If you have any questions about the safety rated upgrades listed above, please contact Dr. David McDeavitt @ 724-659-5820.