Parents, teachers in Grove, Oklahoma, raise money for more school security

The funds raised are earmarked to buy cameras and door security systems and to pay for a second school resource officer, Superintendent Sandy Coaly said.

About 2,570 students are enrolled in the school district.

“While there are cameras at the high school campus, we want security cameras at every site,” Coaly said. “The cameras cost $500 each.”

Officials want to place four cameras at the Early Childhood Center and four to six cameras at the Lower Elementary campus.

They also want to buy buzz-in door systems for the high school and middle school campuses, at a cost of $10,000, Coaly said.

The school recently hired a substitute resource officer until the end of the school year at a cost of $150 a day, she said.

The district relies on Grove police officer Tracy Bloss as a school resource officer. The substitute resource officer gives the district two police officers on duty during school hours, she said.

Research since the 1999 Columbine, Colo., school shooting shows the presence of law enforcement officers on campus and patrol lights and sirens are deterrents to possible school shooters, Bloss said during the January school board meeting.