CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – When you send your child to school every day, you expect them to be safe.

On Sunday, a West Virginia legislative committee heard about the state of school safety across the state.

These details were stated in the annual report of the State Board of Education.

The report focuses on how many of the state’s nearly 700 schools lack basic security features, from mantraps to resource officers to surveillance technology.

The report also included a price tag of more than $250 million to install these security measures in every school.

“The amount we needed for school safety was astronomical, but we are asking them to give us a number in these reports so we know how much it will be,” said Sen. Amy Nichole Grady, R-Mason, the state education chair. working towards it.”

Grady said having mantraps in every school building is at the top of his list.

“The extra set of doors where there’s a person standing and waiting, but they’re not necessarily in the school, but they’re in that little waiting area because that’s according to state code,” Grady said.

In last year’s report, the State Board of Education said fewer than 300 schools still needed mantraps. In this year’s report, this number dropped to 272.

According to the 2024 report, the number of schools with full-time school resource officers decreased, while the number of schools with part-time school resource officers increased.

Grady says he believes this is because schools are having a hard time filling positions.

“They’re experiencing a shortage of people, and so to think that we would have a full-time school resource officer in every school, I think that’s a very positive thought and I would love that, but I don’t think it’s going to happen that way,” he said.

The 2024 report included a new item: The number of schools that need a secondary access road for emergency vehicles. This number is more than 175, or about 25% of the schools.

“Making sure that those access routes are available for emergency services is really important for the safety of our kids, no matter what the emergency is. Whether it’s a medical emergency or, God forbid, a school shooting or something like that, it’s really important to make sure they get to students as quickly as possible.” we have to provide,” Grady said.

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