The Marshall County Board of Education has been awarded additional grant funds to support victims and families healing from the fatal shooting at the high school in January that claimed the lives of two students and injured several others.
Governor Matt Bevin made the announcement Friday morning that he had approved two grants Thursday for a total of $489,000, both through the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA).
A release says a grant for an amount of over $260,652 was awarded to the board of education for its Marshall Strong Recovery Project to help pay for a coordinator to develop and oversee a comprehensive and collaborative recovery plan. In addition, the district will hire two mental health professionals to provide student and staff counseling, emergency assistance for victims in crisis, and referrals for long-term mental health care.
The second grant will provide $228,781 for victim advocacy in the 42nd Judicial Circuit to support victim services during the trial of the alleged shooter to help facilitate victim participation in the trial, such as travel for witness testimony.
Earlier this month, Governor Bevin announced an initial round of VOCA funds, which provided over $175,000 for a “floating” advocate to work with prosecutors and victims and over $17,000 for emergency crisis counseling.
Governor Bevin also joined with U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos earlier this month to announce a $138,000 Project School Emergency Response to Violence grant.
