Kosciusko County Sheriff Rocky Goshert and Emergency Management Agency Director Ed Rock make a presentation to the county council.

WARSAW — Kosciusko County Sheriff Rocky Goshert, in collaboration with Emergency Management Agency Director Ed Rock, is continuing to pursue possible solutions to a national problem involving school safety.

In March, Goshert told the Kosciusko County Council about a program called Safe School, an application that would give educators and law enforcement more tools to react to an active shooter scenario. At its regular monthly meeting Thursday, June 14, the council heard from Goshert and Rock about another similar program that could be underwritten courtesy of a State Homeland Security Grant of $100,000.

According to Rock, the program is called School Guard.

“That one has to be a collaboration between my office and the sheriff’s department,” Rock told the council. “The sheriff has identified a program that he would like to utilize in the schools for security for active shooter or any number of things. If we would be able to get that grant approved, that would be able to cover 20 different school zones to give every one of the teachers basically a panic button in their hand that would automatically dial 911 and notify law enforcement people within a five mile radius so that they could get immediate attention.”

Goshert told the council that if a school’s worst nightmare came to fruition, reaction time of first responders would be integral to help minimize the scope of the incident.

“Time is of the essence in this and so as soon as a teacher activates this button, it goes out to law enforcement,” said Goshert. “It identifies the school and who the teacher was who activated it. You’re bypassing the one middle person (dispatcher) who takes time. It’s not an end all or a stop all, it’s a tool that we give to the teachers.”

Goshert told the council that School Guard would provide a number of uses other than just active shooter situations. The council approved the grant.

In other business, the council also approved a request from Rock for an additional appropriation of $1,540.79 for hazardous material response equipment; a hazardous materials emergency preparedness grant for $30,000; emergency management performance grants of $50,000 and $30,000; and a $30,000 grant request for infrared drones, which could be used for searches.

The board also:

• Approved six additional appropriations for Goshert totaling $8,425.97.
• Approved an additional appropriation of $2,944.50 for Scott Tilden of the Kosciusko County Highway Department.
• Appointed Frank Kurth to the Lakeland Regional Sewer District Board.
• Appointed Jennifer Hicks to the Warsaw Community Public Library Board.
• Approved the following real property tax abatement requests: Alpha Manufacturing & Design LLC and The Garden Spot LLC; Cast Holdings LLC; Custom Engineered Wheels Inc.; Louis Dreyfus Agricultural LLC; Maple Leaf Farm Inc.; Texmo Castings; and Torrent Engineering & Equipment.
• Approved the following personal property tax abatement requests: Alpha Manufacturing & Design LLC and The Garden Spot LLC; Biomet Inc. and Subsidiaries; Custom Engineered Wheels Inc.; IDNA Series Inc.; Louis Dreyfus Agricultural LLC; LSC Communications; Seymour-Midwest, LLC.; Texmo Castings; and Torrent Engineering.