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BEVERLY -- Attorney General Dave Yost recently announced approximately $11 million in additional school safety grant funding.
The Fort Frye Local Schools district applied for the grant and was awarded $40,000 through this round of state safety grants.
According to a press release, Fort Frye Local Schools Administration and Board of Education had been looking for a way to fund the ROC Watch Schools program and chose to apply for the grant.
The ROC Watch Schools program is an innovative software system that warns of wanted dangerous individuals on school campuses, can detect weapons on school grounds, and provides license-plate reader alerts for vehicles belonging to registered sex offenders. According to the release, ROC Watch Schools is a 100% American-made security solution that leverages multimodal biometrics and computer vision to enhance school safety. ROC is trusted by the U.S. military, law enforcement, and leading global FinTech brands.
This is a part of a district initiative to continually evaluate school safety to protect the well-being of students and staff. For many months, Fort Frye's district administration and Building and Grounds Committee of the Board of Education have been meeting with ROC officials to determine if the technology would be a good fit for its five school buildings and grounds. One of the challenges of proceeding with the program was cost. This will pay for the implementation of the ROC system across the district.
The system operates through a computer server and existing security cameras. The technology will alert the school resource officer and district officials if a visible weapon or part of a weapon is detected on school grounds, greatly reducing the response time in an active shooter situation. Superintendent Stephane Starcher was immediately impressed with the potential of the security program.
"It is sickening to think that such safety threats exist and could happen in our small rural community, however, Fort Frye wants to be as prepared as we can." said Starcher. "In school active shooter situations, a weapon is usually visible before the shooter engages. The ROC technology could increase critical seconds and minutes for response, which we all know is crucial to saving lives."
Another feature offered by the software includes facial recognition at school entrances.
If an individual is banned from a school and its campuses due to a safety threat, a picture of the face of the individual can be uploaded to the server.
An alert signal will be sent out to school administrators and the school resource officer if the restricted individual is trying to get visitor access.
The ROC Watch Schools program also has the capacity for license plate readers that can send notification to school officials if a registered sex offender's vehicle has entered the campus.
Fort Frye will be one of few school districts in Ohio equipped with all of these technological tools for school safety.
"As part of our mission to protect every child in America, ROC is proud to partner with Fort Frye Schools to implement our advanced security solutions," said B. Scott Swann, ROC CEO.
"By leveraging our cutting-edge AI-driven technology, we are helping to ensure a safer learning environment for students, faculty, and staff."
Fort Frye Local Schools will work with the ROC technology team to begin installing the server and equipment necessary for this program over the next few months.