Federal grant helps Warren County schools strengthen emergency communication

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Warren County Public Schools and the Warren County Sheriff’s Office are celebrating a new communications enhancement project made possible through federal funding secured by Congressman Brett Guthrie.

During a ceremony at Greenwood High School, district leaders said the $570,000 project improves radio connectivity between schools and emergency responders across the county, a vital upgrade for one of Kentucky’s largest school districts.

“This great colleague, their hard work helped us secure the grant funding for our arts and radio connectivity system,” said superintendent Rob Clayton. “And why that is so important, it speaks to more than just our top priority of ensuring the safety of our students and our staff and greater community, but it speaks to our ability now to have a very efficient means of communicating during emergencies but then also during non-emergency situations across our vast school district.”

Warren County sheriff Brett Hightower said the collaboration shows how communication improvements can make a difference in both crisis and everyday situations.

“What I’m most honored about is the partnerships that we have within this community,” Hightower said. “It’s not just today. It’s every day. And this is of vital importance to them in the safety and security of every student that comes and goes from these school buildings.”

Guthrie, who helped secure the earmark in the 2024 federal appropriations process, said the project was an example of bipartisan agreement around student safety.

“If anybody can agree on child safety and safety in our schools, that’s everybody agrees on that,” Guthrie said. “We found an opportunity with COPS grants, during the appropriations process we can put our fingers on the scale and say that the funds go to the right places.”

The new system, developed with Motorola, eliminates dead zones and ensures reliable coverage inside large school buildings.

“It’s really clarity and just ensuring that there’s no missed spots,” Hightower said. “Because when you look at these massive schools, steel structure, brick, all these things, it’s to ensure that we have 100 percent coverage at any time throughout the schools.”

Dr. Tracy Young, assistant superintendent of Warren County Public Schools, said the technology was installed in all Warren County middle and high schools over the summer and early testing showed strong performance.

District officials say the upgrades will continue to improve safety and response times across all Warren County Public Schools.