U-46 receives second large safety grant in a year

Safety czar John Heiderscheidt has spent the past three years raising the bar on disaster readiness in the state's second-largest school district.

Elgin Area School District U-46's receipt of its second major safety grant in the past year suggests higher powers are taking notice of these efforts.

The district this week announced that it received a $459,000 federal grant through the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.

The grant was the largest sum to be awarded to an Illinois school district, and one of the largest grants awarded to a district across the country.

"I think it's an appropriate allocation for our size," Heiderscheidt said.

The funds, which will be doled out over the next 18 months, will be used to: provide emergency management, crisis prevention, CPR and automated external defibrillator training to staff; allow an outside consultant to assess U-46's "security vulnerability;" and purchase evacuation chairs for handicapped students in every multistory school building.

Heiderscheidt said it will also help the district pay for safety handbooks, traffic safety vests, classroom safety maps, and "GoKits" - portable emergency kits for school nurses and school front offices. It will also pay for signs educating students about infectious disease prevention.

Seventeen private schools within U-46's boundaries will also receive safety training and upgrades through the grant money.

Last fall, the district's school safety advisory task force - a group composed of members of local police and fire departments, school administrators and community agencies - was awarded a $473,000 grant together with Streamwood police to secure U-46 schools in the area. Grant money purchased radios, a camera system and an interior door lock upgrade.

At a time when state funding is uncertain at best, Heiderscheidt noted that the grant money "allows us to really pursue what we've been doing, to continue our efforts."