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By Buzz Trexler
Star Correspondent
Electronic card readers and ballistic film coating windows and glass doors to help keep students and staff safe are in the future for Elizabethton City Schools.

Board of Education members during a regular meeting Thursday night approved a $457,059.17 contract with Central Technologies Inc., of Knoxville, to install electronic card readers on interior classroom and office doors at Elizabethton High School, $164,092.46; East Side Elementary, $65,941.72; West Side Elementary, $63,041.02; T.A. Dugger Junior High, $83,686.92; Harold McCormick Elementary, $61,726.26; and related costs, $18,570.79. The project is funded through a Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s COPS Office has provided more than $20 billion in grants since 1994.

The system also recently issued a request for proposals to install ballistic film coatings on glass windows and doors in buildings through the system and will be opening those bids on Jan. 29. Director of Schools Richard VanHuss said a large portion of that project will be paid for through Tennessee Safe Schools and COPS grants.

The school system also received a $68,000 supply chain disruption assistance grant for food services that will help purchase fruits, vegetables, milk, and other items. VanHuss said the grant is largely used to purchase milk across the system. “This goes all the way back to some of the issues we had during COVID and all the supply chain disruptions there,” he said.