Green Country Schools Benefit From Homeland Security Grant

By Margaret Stokes & Chris Howell NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- Berryhill is one of ten public school districts across the state to be awarded a $25000 grant from the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security.

"For us to get $25000 means a great deal to our small district. For some of the larger districts that may just be a drop in the bucket, but not for us. It allows us to do the things we need to do to make our campus secure because we just don't have it in our budget. We always want to have a secure place for our students to be. We want to be sure that we are aware of any person coming on campus that shouldn't be here. We want to be able to view our campus and make sure that we're safe," said JoEtta Terrell, Berryhill High School Principal.

Funding will be used to purchase security equipment such as cameras, fencing and badging systems for the schools. So why was Berryhill one of the selected districts?

"I‘d like to say that it's because we're so good at filling out grants, but actually this is our first attempt. I think the people that awarded the grants saw the need that we had, "said Terrell.

"We consider our district a small community, we have very little violence, and we're kind of just a homey place. We're a place where a lot of people would like their children to go. It just seemed like the more we did the more we needed to do," said Terrell.