Bibb schools look to bolster security with state safety funding coming down the pipeline

State lawmakers are moving to increase school safety spending, which could bring tens of thousands of dollars to Bibb County Schools for upgraded security equipment.

At the school board’s monthly meeting, members voted unanimously to buy new badges and “teacher boxes” for 1,700 classrooms. The boxes allow classrooms to stream live audio and video camera feeds directly to the main
office.

The upgrades introduce safety features to the boxes, which are already used for instructional purposes, Superintendent Dan Sims said.

The purchase was made ahead of “pending state legislation,” according to the proposal. House Speaker Ron Burns, R-Newington, presented a school-safety package at the state Capitol earlier this month.

Gov. Brian Kemp has already requested an additional $50 million this year to bolster the state’s school safety grants.

The proposal comes after the shooting at Apalachee High School last fall in Winder that left two teachers and two students dead.

“Any time a school shooting happens, it hits close to home,” Sims said. “Then to have one that’s geographically close to home, it’s just heightened our awareness of … the need to ensure we have strong safety protocols.”

Sims added that the proposed legislation, which has yet to pass, reflects how state lawmakers are taking safety “seriously” and seeing the need for proper funding.

The Bibb County School District already receives funding through the Safe Schools Act, which was passed in 2023 and requires schools to send safety plans to Georgia Emergency Management Agency and Homeland Security.

Safety funds from the state would help “increase the efficiency” of the morning entrance system, which schools seem to have gotten the hang of, Sims said.

Matthew Giegler, Bibb County Schools safety and security manager, said new funding from the state would go toward “augmenting” the school’s collection of metal detectors.

The school board approved a $1.3 million purchase of metal detectors in December 2023, and Giegler said all schools have metal detectors at all their points of entry. There are three per high school and two per middle and elementary school — schools are able to request more if need be.

Giegler has worked a number of security roles for school district over the past 20 years. In his current role, he focuses most of his energy on modernizing security measures and keeping them up to date.

He said funding from the state is needed to “get up to speed” with all the new technology and take on some of the more “high cost initiatives.” Giegler said Bibb County Schools have never experienced a mass shooting.

“We’ve found guns and we’ve found weapons, and we’ve thwarted some things,” he said. “A lot of that was due to the security measures we had in place.”

In addition to the metal detectors, the district uses camera systems, safety vestibules and check-in stations to control who is entering school buildings.

“I would be shocked to go into any school system, big or small, here in Georgia, and not find some of the same things Bibb County is doing,” Giegler said.

State lawmakers have also presented a proposal that would develop a system for sharing data between schools, an anonymous app for reporting threats to law enforcement and an incentive program for firearm safety devices.

Bibb County Schools already gets information on students who are transferring into the county, and all offices are involved with the threat assessment process, Giegler said.