Ledyard — The Ledyard Town Council approved moving $28,000 from the Board of Education’s capital projects fund to pay for security upgrades at Ledyard Middle School at its regular meeting Wednesday night.

The money will pay for a project pitched by Superintendent Mike Graner last month that addresses what he called a “huge security flaw,” to be completed in April.

The outdated middle school building houses classroom “clusters” without interior walls or lockable doors — a layout that precludes a lockdown procedure and leaves about 80 percent of students unprotected from a potential intruder.

As a stopgap measure until larger renovations can be completed, the new construction will close off the clusters with walls and doors along the hallway. Electromagnetic locks that can be operated remotely from the main office will also be installed on the entrance doors to the cluster section of the school.

Graner initially presented the idea to the Board of Education after a public forum on school safety brought parent concerns about the classroom setup to the forefront of the discussion.

“This is something we can do immediately and I think it’s something that we need to do,” Town Council Chairman Linda Davis said before the meeting.

— Anna Isaacs