NASHUA – The Nashua School District will receive almost $400,000 in security upgrades through the Public School Infrastructure Fund.

Of the $399,000 applied for, all have been approved except for $88,311, which is currently listed as “waiting.” Shawn Smith, plant operations director, said “We are hoping these remaining projects will ultimately be approved.”

This money would support new interior and exterior cameras at several of the district’s schools, including Charlotte Avenue Elementary School, Fairgrounds Elementary and Middle Schools, Nashua High School North, Dr. Crisp Elementary School and others, such as Amherst Street, Broad Street and Main Dunstable elementary schools, which would receive exterior cameras only.

A request for window/ballistic glass at Broad Street still is pending.

Vestibules for more than $20,000 each also were approved for Bicentennial, Charlotte Avenue and Fairgrounds Elementary School.

The “funding mechanism,” Smith said, calls for the completion of the work, submission of project completion data to the state and then an 80 percent reimbursement of the project costs. Funds should be received within 30 days of project

completion.

The remaining 20 percent, as funded by the district, will total just under $80,000 if all the projects are approved.

Smith said he has budgeted $77,000 in deferred maintenance funding between the current and upcoming fiscal years. The remaining funds, “should easily be redirected from another pending project,” he said.

Projects including exterior cameras at Amherst Street, Birch Hill Elementary School, Charlotte Avenue, Fairgrounds Elementary and Nashua North will begin

immediately.

While the requests for these funds were completed several months ago, the announcement comes at a time when the board and the community have expressed concerns about the security in the schools and the safety of the students.

Aside from the cameras, the administration has urged families and visitors not to hold the door for people entering any of the district’s buildings.

Hannah LaClaire can be reached at 594-1243 or hlaclaire@nashuatelegraph.com