With the threat violent acts at schools on the rise over the past few years, there has been an increasing need for safety investments. Fayette County has realized this and unveiled its 10 point safety investment plan in July of 2018. In the first year the plan will cost $13.5 million, hence the tax increase.

The 10 points are:

1. Add more law enforcement to our schools. Currently there are teams of 5 officers at each high school and 6 officers to cover 12 middle schools. They proposed that we maintain the groups of 5 officers at each high school and one officer at every middle and elementary school.
2. Add more mental health professionals. Currently there one counselor per every 568 elementary school students, 341 middle school students, and 258 high school students. They are working at adding 37 more mental health professionals to reduce ratios to no more that 300:1.
3. Upgrade exterior and interior facilities. At this moment there is 1,700 possible points of entry over all of the schools. They want to install security alarms to all exterior exits and upgrade facilities, including cameras, and more.
4. Require student IDs and staff badges. Right now we have district staff issued badges. We plan to require badges for all staff, contractors , and middle and high school students.
5. Improve adolescent assessment and health promotion programs. Currently we have no district wide approach to this issue. We plan on  Partnering with University of Kentucky Adolescent Medicine to provide access to comprehensive adolescent assessment and health services for all middle
   and high school students.
6. Install metal detectors and hire security ambassadors. Currently we have walk through metal detectors at Dunbar and Frederick Douglas. We plan on having walk through metal detectors at every middle and high school.  Randi Lind , a freshman at Dunbar, says, “They put in metal detectors we have to walk through every time we leave or enter the building at the beginning of last week. We also have to keep our school IDs visible on us at all times.”
7. Secure vestibules. As of right now 24 schools do not have secure vestibules (or lobbies). It is proposed to renovate all schools to secure all vestibules that require double entry access .
8. Increase social media monitoring. Right now only reports of posts by fellow students or parents are investigated. It is proposed that by  contracting with an external vendor to monitor possible safety/security threats made publicly on social media across multiple platforms.
9. Increase education training. Right now there is an inconsistent implementation of social and emotional learning across the district. They proposed adding more training and learning opportunities for staff, families, and students.
10. Upgrade emergency communication systems. Currently dissemination of emergency procedures is done manually and has limited direct contact during crisis. We plan to modernize emergency communication and planning.