MONTAGUE — At Monday’s meeting, the Montague school board agreed to purchase 23 to 25 new security cameras. The total amount being spent is $99,859.75. The district plans to use the 31aa safety grant from the state to cover the costs. The purchase would cover both the actual cameras themselves and installation.
“The 31aa safety grant funds permit that we do have to focus and make sure that we are providing a nice, safe, secure environment for our students to learn here,” Montague superintendent Jeff Johnson said. “We have been putting off some of our purchases over time. We’re trying to be fiscally responsible by purchasing one camera at a time in different spots. Obviously that’s a large dollar size.”
Johnson and technical director Steve Denniston walked each school building to take inventory and assess each buildings needs, resulting in the request to purchase new security cameras. The cameras will be placed in “high traffic” areas, such as hallways and the new gymnasium currently being built.
“This will provide a lot more coverage for the buildings,” said Johnson. “In high traffic areas where cameras are needed for certain situations and additional cameras in some spots, including replacement of ones that we utilize. We’d be covering gaps in the hallways and things like that.”
