(Media Release provided by the Carroll County Schools District)

Carroll County Schools held its 11th annual Safety Summit Friday, July 21. School Safety Teams along with first responders from local public safety and health agencies reviewed emergency plans and discussed safety measures in preparation for the new school year. Teams from each school collaborated with first responders in tabletop exercises that forced them to think through their preparation and reaction to specific emergency and crisis situations.

Carroll County School System is a leader in safety and was the first school system in Georgia to implement an annual safety summit.

Over the past year, the district invested $330,000 to install a new cloud-based camera system on the bus fleet, allowing administrators to capture video footage in real time. The district spent another $100,000 updating and replacing video cameras, access control points and master stations across the district.

Through partnerships with Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, Whitesburg Police Department, Villa Rica Police Department and Mt. Zion Police Department, Carroll County Schools provided a total of 12 resource officers across the district, including an additional officer at Central High during the 22-23 school year.

Beginning this fall, the district will work with individual schools to utilize $50,000 of state funds per school to address additional safety concerns.

“We greatly appreciate the support of our local emergency management, law enforcement, fire and rescue personnel and Tanner Health System,” Assistant Superintendent of Administrative and Support Services Terry Jones said. “Safety and security is a team effort that takes all resources working together. The Safety Summit provides us with a great opportunity to align our efforts through communication and collaboration to keep the health and safety of our students and staff as our top priority.”