Ozark recently learned it was the recipient of a School Safety Grant Award from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It received the maximum award of $300,000 along with Springfield, Joplin and Republic.
The Ozarks School District's executive director of Student Services Kim Fitzpatrick said they'll use the money right away for new cameras and GPS tracking units for all school buses and district vehicles.
"Our bus department and transportation can track those buses. If there's ever an accident, we immediately can point where they're at," she said. "Drivers on the bus with students, we have visuals of everything that goes on so that, not only if there's any incidents, helps with the driver and the students so we have record of that."
She said the grant will also allow the district to purchase new emergency handheld radios for building administrators to communicate quickly in emergency situations. And the district will make other safety upgrades, too. The grant will also help the school recover costs for new automated external defibrillator or AED units that were recently purchased and placed throughout the district.
Fitzpatrick said, without the grant, other projects would have to be sacrificed to make the safety improvements possible.