(KAIR)--Planning for the installation of what leaders of the Atchison Public Schools approved as a new system of safety and security is moving forward.

During a meeting of December 10, the Board of Education for USD 409 gave approval for the purchase of the Telecenter U Critical Communications system.

The total cost is $107,000, with $42,000 of the pricetag to be covered through funds required to be spent on school safety.

$21,000 was granted to the school district by the state, with the district required to match the funds.

Superintendent Dr. Susan Myers tells MSC News the remaining $65,000 will be funded through the district’s summer budget for capital outlay expenditures.

Myers will meet with representatives of the system’s vendor, All Systems, on January 2, to begin plans for installation.

She said the goal is to see it in place prior to her retirement, which becomes effective at the end of the current school year.

The purchase of the system was met with opposition from one School Board member when the issue was decided December 10.

Rick Zumbrunn voted against the purchase, citing the cost, and saying that he didn’t feel the system provided enough in the way of safety, calling it a scheduling device, not a security system.