The Keokuk School Board has authorized the district to apply for up to $50,000 from the Iowa Department of Education for a "life-safety" project.
Business Manager Greg Reynolds says the money would be used to install a stand-pipe system in a four-story section of Keokuk High School commonly known as the "A-Wing."
He says the Keokuk Fire Department is requesting the installation because the high school does not have a sprinkler system.
Reynolds says the stand-pipe system would allow firefighters to connect a fire engine to an exterior hook-up and a hose to an interior hook-up on each floor.
The water could then flow freely through the system, as opposed to hauling hundreds of extra feet of hose from the truck to the location of a fire.
Reynolds says the grant would not require a local match, so the only cost to the district could be the roughly if the grant comes through, the only cost to the district would be roughly five-to-ten thousand dollars for engineering.
If all goes according to plan, the stand-pipe system would be installed this summer.
SECURITY
Meanwhile, security will soon be tighter throughout the Keokuk School District.
Superintendent Tim Hood says crews have started installing various aspects of the district’s new security system, which he hopes to have up and running this spring.
He says one feature of the system is that access to every building will be limited during school hours.
Visitors will have to come to the main entrance of a building and be buzzed in by a school representative.
"We just felt from all of the discussions with the architectural firm and the things we researched that it probably was the most safe way to do this," says Hood.
Interior and exterior security cameras will also be installed throughout the district.
The total price tag will be about $430,000.
