In Search of a Repeatable, Affordable School Security Model
One North Carolina elementary school demonstrates how risk assessments, technology and policies can be implemented in a cost-effective way to improve safety. Could this model apply to your K-12 campus?
Planning for and Creating a Model Campus
As the district reviewed Fiel’s exhaustive reports, he made them an offer – he would pick one school to show how it’s possible to create an affordable and easily repeatable plan to help protect the campus against an armed attacker or opportunistic thieves. The board accepted.
The campus selected for the pilot project was Wallace Elementary, which educates about 750 students in grades K-5 with 94 teachers and staff members. The school is located in rural Wallace, a township with a population of nearly 4,000.
To make his offer even more acceptable to the district, Fiel called on security industry contacts to collect donations of security equipment and services.
Wallace Elementary, built in 1975, was designed as an open campus with twin entries at the front of the main building. Fiel had one entry secured. Signage makes it clear that the remaining entrance is now the only visitor entry.
A video intercom from Aiphone was mounted outside the door. Visitors are instructed to press the intercom’s button to talk with the receptionist in the school office. She can see and talk with visitors using a monitor on her desk. If the visitor is approved she remotely unlocks the door. As an added precaution, security screens from Harmony Security Products were installed in front of the glass to protect this and several other doors on campus. The stainless steel mesh screens are impervious to rips.
“The idea behind the locked door, intercom and screens is to delay a potential troublemaker to provide law enforcement more time to respond to an emergency,” Fiel said.
The school office is just inside the entry. Acting upon Fiel’s recommendation, the district built a wall and lockable doors to break up a hallway that led past the office and provided access to the classrooms.
For several years, the school used a registration system in the office that printed an ID badge after visitors entered their names and reasons for a visit. But the system required no identification and visitors could easily enter a false name.
“Schools need to be aware of what they are buying,” said Fiel. “Salespeople can make any product sound like a good solution, when, in fact, it may offer little or no real value.”
Now, upon entering the office, visitors are asked to produce a government-issued ID card that is swiped through a FASTPASS visitor management system from Security Identification Systems Corp. (SISCO). The system checks the visitor’s information against dat
a in federal and state registered sex offender databases. According to the national Sex Offender Registry, there are more than 15,000 registered sex offenders in North Carolina; 89 in Duplin County and 16 near Wallace Elementary. Upon clearance, FASTPASS takes a photo of the visitor and prints an adhesive badge. The receptionist then remotely unlocks the new interior doors allowing access to the classrooms.
Because the Sandy Hook gunman went from classroom to classroom shooting his victims, Fiel’s team paid special attention to door locks. Classrooms just past the office were equipped with locks from ASSA ABLOY Group brands; Corbin Russwin (door locks), Securitron (power supplies), HES (strikes) and Rockwood (latch guard). They automatically lock from the inside when closed. During an emergency, teachers have been instructed to keep their classroom doors closed until they hear a code phrase from a sheriff’s deputy.
Three additional IP video cameras from Axis Communications were installed to improve views of the school entry. The school already had 19 analog cameras in place. The analog cameras are converted to a digital signal and all are recorded on a server in the main office. The principal, assistant principal, business and data managers and the receptionist can view the video anytime on their desktop computers.
The sheriff’s department also has access to video from this and any of Duplin County’s campuses. The department can also remotely view live video feeds using wirelessly connected laptops mounted in three patrol vehicles, providing valuable insights for officers as they respond to an emergency.
Tyco Integrated Security provided integration services for the installation of the new systems at Wallace Elementary.
Several more of Fiel’s assessment recommendations added to the school’s overall security. Overgrown landscaping was cut back to improve sightlines, new and more powerful lighting was installed and lockable gates were added to the main and auxiliary parking lots. The SRO now parks his sheriff’s department vehicle just inside the main lot, making it clear to visitors that an armed officer is on duty. Added signage directs visitors to the office entry. Panic buttons were added in the administrative offices and several other discreet locations known only to the faculty and staff – when pressed, the buttons immediately reach the sheriff’s dispatch office.
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