Jim Thorpe Area School District officials are excited about a $308,507 security grant which will go toward replacing the district’s phone system.

The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency recently awarded grants to hundreds of schools statewide, with all five Carbon County schools receiving at least $30,000.

But Jim Thorpe earned a more exclusive grant, which it will use to replace a phone system which is more than a decade old.

“We found something that would be far-reaching and reach everybody in the district,” said Superintendent John Rushefski. “It’s going to make the district safer than it’s ever been before.”

The project is expected to be completed by December. It will replace the existing analog phone system with a new digital system.

The existing system was prone to outages, which would create a security concern if it happened in an emergency.

The new system will allow administrators to seamlessly communicate with the entire district, just like they were sitting in the school.

“We’ll really be able to connect the buildings from both a communication and security standpoint,” said Jerome Brown, district technology coordinator.

Three administrators combined to write the grant. Coordinator of Academic Resources Katherine Doll, Brown and Director of Security Lori Lienhard each contributed to the application.

District administrators have applied for the more competitive grant before in hopes of funding a school police officer, but were unsuccessful.

Brown said he had been looking to replace the phone system, but there was no room in the budget. So the administrators decided to seek state funds for the project.

Doll, who regularly writes grant applications on behalf of the district, said it would not have been possible without input from all three administrators.

“Teamwork was the winning combination for this, and the shared vision,” she said.