Prince George’s County Public Schools plans a $6 million investment in A.I. safety tech amidst budget cuts
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. — Prince George’s County Public Schools Interim Superintendent held the district’s State of Schools Tuesday night. Dr. Shawn Joseph laid out his vision for the district.
Part of that includes enhancing school safety using A.I. technology.
“Our high schools have 2-3 thousand students in them, and we have to make sure they’re safe,” said Dr. Joseph.
The district will invest over $6 million over the next 4 years to expand safety technology, starting with all high schools.
- A.I. Weapons Detection
- Facial Recognition Technology
- Expand Surveillance Cameras
- Install License Plate Readers on campuses
“Kids and staff are safe. The technology helps us do that,” said Dr. Joseph.
As the district prepares to shell out money for safety, it’s looking for savings in its roughly $3 billion budget. Later this week, Dr. Joseph will lay out the district’s plan to save about $150 million as they deal with what he calls a ‘crisis budget’.
He declined to give specifics on Tuesday, but confirmed the district looks to cut some programs.
“Programs with low enrollment. Programs that were redundant,” said Dr. Joseph. “Looked at opportunities to move dollars from grant funding,” said Dr. Joseph.
He confirmed the district will cut between 80 and 100 positions in this cost savings plan. Some of those staffers will be reassigned duties.
Dr. Joseph has been the interim superintendent for more than 100 days.
He says the county is expected to announce details about a permanent hire in the next week or so. Dr. Joseph says he will have to do some soul-searching about what’s next in his career.