Grants for readiness and emergency response plans have been allocated to 98 school districts in 28 states. The funds can be used to coordinate with local emergency responders, including fire, police and health and public health agencies, to conduct drills and exercises, purchase emergency supplies and equipment and to train staff and students regarding emergency response procedures. 
 
The funds - for a total of $28.8 million - were allocated by the U.S. Department of Education. The entities receiving funding will be used to improve plans that address prevention-mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. "No student should feel unsafe in school," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan (pictured) said. "The fact is that no school can be a great school until it is a safe school first, and these grants will support that effort."
 
Those earning the funding must commit their school districts to coordinate with officials in law enforcement, local government, public safety, public health and mental health; train school officials in emergency management; and provide a method for communicating emergency and reunification procedures to parents and guardians.
 
The funding comes from the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, which supports efforts to create safe schools, respond to crises, prevent drug and alcohol abuse, ensure the health and well being of students and teach them good citizenship. To view the complete list of recipients, click here and look under "Recent Reports."

More weatherization projects throughout the nation will soon be getting under way after the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) recent award of nearly $120 million to approximately 120 organizations nationwide. The funds will allow those organizations to expand their programs and will also finance new pilot programs to demonstrate new ways of weatherization delivery, financial models and new technologies.
 
DOE officials report that through June, more than 31,600 homes across the country were weatherized, the most homes weatherized in one month since the start of the Recovery Act-funded program.  The nationwide system of weatherization is currently operating at its optimal run rate - some 25,000 homes per month. This summer, 80,000 homes are expected to be weatherized. The program has also resulted in hundreds of contracts and thousands of jobs.
 
This round of funding will award some $90 million to more than 100 proven weatherization providers in 27 states to expand their current programs. These projects can include anything from installing solar heating systems, solar photovoltaic panels and shingles, small-scale wind turbines, new insulation technologies, tankless hot water heaters and more. To view the list of recipients of Sustainability Energy Resources funding, click here and look under "Recent Reports."
 
Sixteen other recipients will share $30 million in funding to show other innovative approaches to weatherizing homes. These organizations will include private companies, nonprofits, universities, city governments and national partners like Habitat for Humanity. To view the list of Weatherization Innovation Pilot Program grant recipients, click here and look under "Recent Reports."

 

Jane Bristol (top left) will retire Sept. 1 from the position of economic development director for the city of Prescott, Arizona, ending a 21-year career with the city that started as a secretary in the finance department. North Carolina state lottery executive director Tom Shaheen (top right) is leaving his post on Sept. 17 to become vice president for a private company that works on selling lottery tickets through ATMs and other terminals, and will be succeeded by acting director Alice Garland who is executive director for legislative and corporate communications. The Philadelphia School District's chief safety officer, James B. Golden, Jr., has resigned after serving five years under three superintendents, and will be succeeded by Philadelphia Police Department Chief Inspector Myron Patterson, a 25-year veteran indefinitely on loan from the police department. The Menahga, Minnesota, City Council has offered the city clerk/treasurer/administrator position to Walter Salo of Chisholm, former city administrator in Cook and former executive director for the Bois Forte Tribal Council in Nett Lake and former executive director for Range Transitional Housing Agency in Virginia. Dr. Ned Calonge (upper middle right), Colorado's chief medical officer for the last eight years, is leaving to become president of the Colorado Trust, one of the state's largest foundations. Kingsville, Texas, City Manager Carlos Yerena (upper middle left) has been named sole finalist for the position of Harlingen, Texas, city manager, beating out other finalists Hondo City Manager Robert Herrera and Harlingen Assistant City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez. Pittsburg, California, City Manager Marc Grisham will retire at the end of the year, in spite of the fact that his contract does not end until six months later. The Ferris, Texas, City Council has appointed interim police chief Sam Love as the new chief of police. Former East Dubuque, Illinois, mayor Geoff Barklow resident to become the city's director of economic development and has now been named to fill the city manager position, replacing City Manager Al Griffiths, who is retiring in mid-September. Three new city officials were recently hired by the city of Carbon Hill, Alabama - Police Chief Health Allred, City Clerk Marilyn Dumpson and Magistrate and Assistant City Clerk Rosa McDonald. University of Iowa Provost and former Seattle University dean Wallace D. Loh (lower middle left) has been named the next president of the University of Maryland, succeeding C.D. Mote, Jr., who is retiring after 12 years as president of Maryland's flagship state university. Cincinnati State Technical and Community College has named the Hamilton County Coroner, O'dell Owens (lower middle right), as its next president, to replace interim president John Henderson, who has served since November 2007. Swampscott, Massachusetts, schools have named former Lexington Deputy Superintendent Lynne Celli as superintendent. Mike Jackson, who has served as acting city manager since February and is former Parks and Recreation director and deputy city manager, has been named permanent city manager, replacing the former city manager who was asked to resign. John Ward, who has served the Ridgewood, New Jersey, Police Department for 27 years and was named captain last year, has been named chief of police, replacing former Police Chief John LiPuma, who retires Sept. 1. Carlos E. Santiago (lower left), seventh chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who has served since 2004, plans to resign from his position Oct. 1 to become chief executive officer for the Hispanic College Fund, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. Cheryl MacBride (lower right), current chief financial officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety, has been promoted to deputy director of services, making her the first woman in the agency to become a deputy director. Brad Rable, former deputy director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has resigned his post to take a position in the private sector. Jim Roy, former senior executive assistant for then-House Speaker John Thrasher, has been named provost of the St. John's River Community College Orange Park campus in Florida, succeeding provost Bill Simmons, who retired last year after serving 13 years. Oklahoma State University has selected Dr. Robert J. Sternberg, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University since 2005, as its new provost and senior vice president. El Campo, Texas, Police Chief Terry Marek has resigned after a little over a year on the job and will be replaced on an interim basis by Deputy Chief Terry Stanphill.