FULTON, Miss. (WTVA) -- Students at Itawamba Attendance Center are raising money to help make their school safer.
The move is being welcomed by principal Pat Stone. She wants to make sure her students have nothing more to worry about than making a good grade.
"All of us that work in a school situation know how important school security is now, and I think a lot of school districts are beefing up what they have already, and that's the case with us," Stone said.
Those additional security measures begin with keyless entries.
All personnel would be required to swipe a card or type a code to enter buildings.
That idea gets a thumbs up from teachers.
"Their lives are in our hands, and we want them to feel safe at school and let their parents feel comfortable knowing they're safe in good hands," teacher Lisa Wallace said.
"I feel like we can focus more on our school work than having to worry about any distractions outside of school or having to worry about our safety," student Anna Robinson said.
"It's important to make people safe and let them know that they're safe so that they can focus," student Madison Weston said.
That's where the fundraiser comes in to play. Each keyless entry system costs no less than $1,000.
In less than one week, students working under the guidance of the Parent-Teacher Organization have already raised $12,000 to go toward that security measure.
One prize in the student fundraiser is a classroom party, and that appears to be motivating youngsters.
"It's competitive, and you just want to win," student Dylan Quinn said.
