DALTON, Ga. — After pleas from the public, the Dalton Board of Education is making its schools safer.

At Tuesday’s special called meeting, the board voted unanimously to accept a bid for the installation of intruder locks at Dalton High School, Dalton Middle School and Morris Innovative High School. However, after the system-wide bid for all of the city’s schools came in at more than $130,000 over budget, the projects at the city’s elementary schools will be put rebid.

In an emergency, intruder locks could be used to lock classroom and closet doors from the inside.

“After hearing from people in the forums we held and telling them we were taking action, I think it is important that we move forward,” board member Matt Evans said.

The move comes less than three months after Dalton High was put on lockdown when police say teacher Randal Davidson fired a gun through a window at the school on Feb. 28 and less than a week after 10 people were killed at a Texas high school. No one was seriously injured.

The board and representatives of the system held a public forum in March on school safety and have made moves to improve security. Among the changes, the system will increase the number of School Resource Officers from three to seven, upgrade the public address system at Dalton High and add card reader access to all exterior doors at the high school.

Superintendent Tim Scott and school system administration recommended rejecting the low bidder and rebidding the project. But when Scott and Director of Operations Rusty Lount told the board that re-bidding the project could push the project back as long as 90 days, board members voted to move ahead with the project.

According to the bids submitted, the contract with Tebarco Door and Metal Services Inc. of Alpharetta provides funds of $202,191 for Dalton Middle, $163,205 for Dalton High and $41,638 for Morris Innovative. The bid for the project covering all schools was for $818,948, which was $130,444 over the budget and would have been covered in a budget amendment using Education Special Local Option Sales Tax V funds. Budgeting for the project had been made on a bid by Dalton-based A1 Lock and Security, but the company’s bid did not have a qualified bid bond and was disqualified. Tebarco was the second lowest bidder.

By reducing the contract to just the secondary schools, the cost for the intruder locks would be roughly $60,000 over what was budgeted for the project, according to DPS Chief Financial Officer Theresa Perry. That budgetary difference should have little impact since in past meetings, Perry has reported that ESPLOST V revenues have been higher than initially forecast. The board recently approved the fiscal year 2019 budget with expenditures of $79 million.