State awards $200K in grants

CELINA - The Celina City Schools district has been awarded $200,000 through Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's K-12 School Safety Grant Program.

Celina High School and Mercer County Head Start will each receive $100,000 safety grants, according to a news release from DeWine's Office.

Superintendent Ken Schmiesing welcomed the news, saying school officials likely will spend the funds on safety components for the high school and Head Start program that can be reused in new school buildings once they're built.

Head Start is a countywide preschool program that serves children ages 3-5 who have a disability or whose families are income eligible. Limited enrollment also is available for families who don't meet these requirements. Celina City Schools hosts the program and serves as its fiscal agent.

"We applied for a hundred thousand dollars for each of our buildings," Schmiesing told the newspaper. "It was a piece we were going to put in some safety initiatives in our current buildings that we would then be able to move to the new buildings."

Schmiesing applauded district facilities director Phil Metz for writing the successful application.

"Certainly hats off to him," Schmiesing said. "It's great to have that $200,000 headed our way to help us with the safety initiatives."

The planned 7-12 school building is expected to open in 2026, Schmiesing said.

"If we can in any manner use (the grant) to replace what we would otherwise be using funds for in the new building - I'm speaking of some technology advances, perhaps. Camera systems. Things like this," he said.

One of the safety features they'd like to incorporate into the design is a vestibule like the one at Tri Star where people are screened before given access into the facility.

"They're able to see the people walking up to the building so that's a feature that we're looking at with the new buildings as well," Schmiesing said.

The release noted 708 schools in 57 counties will receive $57.8 million in funding through this third round of funding through a competitive process to public school districts and chartered non-public schools, with a maximum award of $100,000 per school. A total of $105 million will have been allocated over the course of three rounds.

"We are being proactive in keeping our schools safe in Ohio. Student and staff safety is paramount," DeWine said in a statement. "These safety grants are helping schools create environments that are secure and welcoming for teachers and their students."

The safety funds are to be used to cover expenses associated with physical security enhancements such as security cameras, public address systems, automatic door locks, visitor badging systems and exterior lighting.

Other local entities awarded safety grants were Mercer County Educational Service Center and Coldwater Exempted Village Schools.

Mercer County ESC superintendent Shelly Vaughn at the time said its $100,000 grant would be spent on improvements at the ESC's new facility in the former Fanning Howey building located at 540 E. Market Street, Celina.

They were to include outdoor lighting in the parking lot, security cameras, a backup generator and re-keying the entire building with keyless-entry capabilities.

Vaughn had said Celina Police Chief Tom Wale conducted a vulnerability assessment of the building as part of the grant application process and helped form a report with suggestions for improvements.

Coldwater school district treasurer Jenn McCoy last month said school officials were still mulling how to spend the $50,000 safety grant awarded to the high school.