Slippery Rock School District plans to add more safety measures financed by using state grant money.

Alfonso Angelucci, the district's superintendent, said $25,000 received through the School Safety and Security Grant program will go toward upgrades to the district's sign-in system for parents and other visitors at all four school buildings.

“We currently have a system that works,” Angelucci said. “(The new system is) an electronic system that helps monitor that better than our current system.”

Remaining funds would be spent on two-way radios for building principals and staff, according to Angelucci.

“Those are the major parts of it,” Angelucci said.

The grant program was created by lawmakers earlier this year to provide schools with additional funds for a wide variety of projects to improve school safety, according to state Sen. Elder Vogel, R-47th.

He said the program was part of a comprehensive school safety bill that was signed into law in June and offered more than $60 million in new funding in the current year's budget to improve school safety.

“This funding provides these districts in Beaver, Butler and Lawrence counties with financial support to enhance the safety of students in these schools,” Vogel said. “It is important to me that we take the appropriate and necessary steps to ensure our young people can feel safe in their classrooms and schools.”

Angelucci said he was glad on behalf of the district to have support from the state.

“The school's first priority is to keep its students and staff safe. Once that's accomplished we go about the mission of teaching and learning,” Angelucci said. “It's nice to see the state taking such a forward step and making that a priority as well.”