BELLE — Maries County R-2 Board of Education on Nov. 2 discussed items they will be purchasing with a $500,000 COPS security grant they received in October.

Before we just talked that we had been approved for the grant,” said Superintendent Dr. Lenice Basham. “What is included in the grant is easy locking doors, two-way radios, bollards, surveillance software, perimeter lights and window shades.”

Basham added that there is a schedule of items the district can buy each year over the next three years.

“We can get started working on getting those quotes,” she said. “Does anyone have questions about the grant?”

Board President Joey Butler II said he didn’t have questions, just a statement.

“We kind of just breezed through the idea, probably because of the sticker shock, but I just want everybody to think about how many hundreds of hours went into this and how many thousands of dollars it should have cost us but didn’t,” Butler said. “I think we should be greatly appreciative of that and I hope the community realizes that as well.”

Basham said there is no way the district would have gotten the grant without Board Director Amy Kiso, who filed Tuesday morning to retain her board seat for another three years.

“I talked last time about how hard it was to get logged in and it was incredibly hard to just accept the grant,” Basham said. “Without Amy we would not have gotten this and I am incredibly grateful as well.”

Kiso said safety was one of her priorities when she first ran for the board.

“There are a lot of things I have done, this is just the biggest,” Kiso said.

Director Garret Bialzcyk, who also filed for re-election Tuesday morning, said he attended the Missouri School Board Association (MSBA) conference and they were excited about the district’s grant success.

Butler began talking about items the district may purchase.

“I would entertain a motion to approve the hand radio purchase,” Butler said.

Basham began to explain the purchase.

“With the grant, we are expected to buy those over a three-year period, but we got a better deal if we bought them all at one time,” Basham said. “So what will happen, I will buy them all now and we will get reimbursed from the federal government over the next three years. We will carry the cost upfront so that we can have the cheaper price.”

Butler asked if the cheaper-priced radios were good quality or did they have to buy the brand because they are the cheapest price.

“No and no,” Basham said. “They aren’t the cheapest price but they do work with our system, the bus radios and the big base radio, police and the fire station. We can reach the police and fire station in case of an emergency. Most of these are not (compatible with the current system), but that is why we went with this one because it is already compatible with most of the ones we have.”

Basham had 130 handheld radios on the list.

“Is that one in every classroom or where will those go?” Butler asked.

Kiso said she wrote the grant so every staff member would have a radio, including office staff, janitors, and cafeteria workers.

“They don’t have to carry it constantly, but if they have to shuffle things around, or God forbid we have an intruder, everybody needs to have on available to be ready.”

Butler asked for a motion and a second to purchase the radios. Bialzcyk made the motion and Director Kenda Sanders seconded.

“Like if someone was at a north window, you talked about numbers, they would say L-7 or something?” Butler asked. “They could go into lockdown, emergency services and cops are already on the way.”

Sanders asked what the expectation of the radios will be.

“I feel like we have them, the expectation will be that they carry them,” Basham said. “Any time they leave the room, it should be with them.”

Teachers and staff should leave the radios on a charger every night.

The board approved the purchase with a 6-0 vote.

The second item was door and window labels which Basham said were much harder to bid out.

“Only one company provided us with a bid, and it will change depending on the number of doors, windows and placards,” Basham said.

The company in question also has the signage in brail, so if it is hard to see because of smoke students can feel the number.

“This really is the Gold Standard,” Kiso told fellow members. “Depending on how things play out, they can help determine that we have numbers at each side of the classroom facing out to determine where the classrooms begin and end.”

Numbers and letters will face outside.

“The gentlemen will come and install them all,” Basham said. “That is included in the price as they are coming from Philidelphia and they should be done in about a week. They will do all the installation, windows, placards and walls.”

The board approved the purchase from Emergency Information Systems with a 6-0 vote.

The grant allows for $22,000 for placard installation.

“Once you guys approved it, I told them I would send the building plans,” Basham said.

In other business, filing opened Tuesday morning. Board members Kiso and Bialzcyk both filed for election to retain their seats at 8 a.m. at the Administration Building.