LEWISTON — The School Committee gave approval Monday for district administrators to apply for a state grant to improve safety at Longley School.
Executive Director of Operations Bill Grant told the committee that Lewiston schools could receive up to $1 million from the state’s Revolving Renovation Fund to replace outdated windows and doors. Doing so would make the school safer and deter break-ins by ensuring locks are reliable and the frames around the doors and windows are strong, he said.
The renovation would additionally improve the entryways to each of Longley’s four programs: Adult Education, the multilingual program, NextSTEP and The Store Next Door. Each program uses separate doors, some of which were not originally built to act as main entrances, Grant said.
Up to 70% of the grant would be covered by the state while at least 30% would need to be paid by the school through an interest-free loan.
Replacing the doors and windows at Longley became a high priority after it was was broken into and vandalized this summer. The district will replace all windows and doors in the school whether it receives the grant or not, Grant said, however it would take far longer to complete the project.
Some School Committee members praised Grant for finding a program to assist with financing the renovations.
Ward 3 representative Elizabeth Eames later told the committee she attended a restorative justice meeting with some of the students responsible for the vandalism at Longley. That process will continue over the next few months.
While some of the four students are participating, others have been difficult to contact or have been uncooperative, she said.
Restorative justice is a form of criminal justice which focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large.
In other news, Superintendent Jake Langlais told the committee he is in the early stages of learning about software for school cameras that would use artificial intelligence to identify dangerous items, including guns. Once detected, the program would send the footage to be reviewed by a person who could alert local police and school administrators.
Langlais said the system could be a nonintrusive way to boost school security, but he still needs more details, such as the cost.
This is “something that really piqued my curiosity,” he said.
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