School Security Assessment

Over the last several months, the number of K-12 campus security walk-throughs that I’ve completed with dealer sales reps and end user customers has increased dramatically.  This can be attributed to a wide variety of factors, but the simple reality is that most people have a heighted awareness of security right now.  They are looking to implement systems that will allow for easy identification and tracking of persons throughout the district.  This can include Photo ID, Visitor Management, Access Control Software and even mustering applications. 

If you are a school district considering any or all of these solutions, here are some basic questions to ask yourself as you get started with choosing a system that is right for you: 

• Do faculty and personnel in the school have and use Identification (ID) badges?   Is this policy enforced?
• What is the current procedure for obtaining a new ID badge?
• If you are considering electronic door access, how would you like employee and faculty badges to be activated in the access control system?  Will each school have a printer or will badges be issued centrally at the district office? 
• Are all exterior doors locked as part of a closed campus policy?
• Are public entrances monitored and controlled through locking, supervision or electronic access (ie: buzzing someone in?)
• What is your current visitor policy at each school?  Are they asked to show ID when checking in?  Is this policy enforced? 
• Do you have an electronic process for registering and badging visitors? 
• Do you have any third party groups that use the building for activities?  If so, how do they gain access?  How would you like them to gain access in the future, if you implement a new system?
• How often are exterior doors propped open in the building? 
• What is your current lockdown procedure?  Do you practice this regularly? 
• Describe your current key control procedure.  Do many people have master keys or only a select few?  Are all master keys accounted for? 
• How does student traffic flow between classes?  Do you have multiple buildings on campus to consider? 
• Do you have a system in place for evacuation and mustering? 

Thinking about these questions in advance will help you realize your district's primary security needs and recognize the areas you should address first.  Understanding your strengths and weaknesses up front will also help you as you research security systems for badging, visitor tracking and access control. 


Lindsay Martin-Nez is the Director of Sales for BadgePass, Inc.  BadgePass manufactures cutting-edge Photo ID, Visitor Management, Access Control and Time Management software.  To learn more visit www.badgepass.com. 

Three Point Plan for Increased School Security

Across the nation, school districts are focusing on the safety and security of their campuses and addressing any concerns. They understand the importance of ensuring the safety of their students and faculty, yet, sometimes the implementation process can seem a bit overwhelming. That is why we have developed our “Three Point Plan” for a safer school district. 

Step 1: Visually Identify People

By implementing a visual identification policy district wide, schools can foster an environment that encourages faculty and staff to question unknown people on their campus. Many schools that we work with are requiring the visual display of identification for all faculty, staff, students and even visitors. This makes it easier to recognize unauthorized visitors in the building. To ensure consistency, make sure faculty and staff can get their photo IDs issued quickly and visitors can check in efficiently. By avoiding complicated software and a long turnaround time for badge issuance, you will greatly improve the success of whatever system you choose.

 

Step 2: Control Entry Points

To aid in identification and security efforts, schools should manage the flow of visitor and faculty traffic through pre-defined entry points. More schools are implementing electronic card access systems to monitor door status and enable easy lockdown campus-wide, if necessary. To better manage traffic flow, schools should design the system to notify them when doors are propped open and make sure that the system is programed to deactivate credentials automatically when a person(s) leaves the district and no longer needs access rights or privileges.  This will help prevent unauthorized users from having access to your campus.

Step 3: Know What Happened

 
Anytime an event occurs in a school district, the school should be able to access real-time information within seconds. Campuses nationwide rely on video surveillance and quality reporting for accurate recall of various occurrences. In order to receive the most accurate and reliable data possible, schools should ensure their system offers fast and easy access to video footage or reporting information and avoid inaccurate data and unknown camera outages.

 Lindsay Cornell is the Director of Sales for BadgePass, Inc. BadgePass manufactures cutting edge Door Access, Photo ID, and Visitor Tracking software. Visit www.badgepass.com for more information.

5 Step Plan for Managing Campus Security

No matter what the campus or district size, schools nationwide always ask me, “What is the best place for me to start when putting together a safety and security plan for my district?”  At first, managing campus security can seem like a daunting task.  There are many critical components to keep in mind.  The school districts that I have worked with that have seen the best success have worked through these five steps toward managing their security. 

Step One: Establish a Visual Identification Policy

How are you currently identifying your students, faculty, staff and visitors?  If your campus does not have a visual ID for each one of these people currently, get a plan in place quickly.  Establishing a visual ID is the first step toward a more secure campus.  It offers everyone in the building a sense of security and community.  It also makes faculty feel more comfortable approaching those who aren’t wearing a badge and escorting them to the front office to a visitor check-in station where they can present ID and be assigned a visitor badge. 

Step Two: Do Not Underestimate the Importance of Managing Visitors

Whatever you do, you should not underestimate the importance of identifying your visitors.  Visitors are a critical component to your campus security.  Unidentified visitors can pose a severe threat to any organization or campus and without a record of their name and the time they checked in, you can never account for them having been in your building should an incident ever occur.  By ensuring all visitors check in every time they show up on campus AND wear a visitor badge at all times, you can easily differentiate guests from faculty with just a quick glance at their ID.

Step Three: Conduct Random Assessments to Ensure Everyone is Wearing Their ID

Appoint someone in each school to randomly count how many staff and students they see that aren’t wearing their ID badges.  If the system is being utilized properly, that number should be zero.  I have seen many schools implement penalties for faculty and students seen not wearing their photo ID on school grounds (ex: fines, detentions, etc).  If you implement a badging system and never enforce it after the fact, it will inevitably fall by the wayside.  Random or quarterly assessments help ensure your investment is protected. 

Step Four: Start Thinking about Physical Security

When thinking about physical security, the best place to start is the perimeter.  Can you traffic all of your visitors to one main entry point?  Hopefully you can and all those guests are checking in at your visitor manager station(s).  If you have one main entry point, have you locked down all your other doors during the school day, thereby guaranteeing that you won’t have any unwarranted guests or visitors? 

In the event of an event of emergency, do you have a lockdown or evacuation plan in place?  At this point, you have already implemented student, faculty and visitor identification badges on campus.  Your visitor management system should offer you an accurate list of all of the visitors on campus at any given moment.  If you combine that list with your other credentials, you can come up with a fantastic plan for better managing your evacuation policy and procedures. 

Step Five:  Implement Other Applications that Use Your ID Badges

In this day and age there are so many things you can do with ID badges besides using them as a means for photo identification.  The opportunities are almost endless.  Take your ID card to the next level with applications like access control, vending, cafeteria solutions, mustering, single sign on, etc. 

There are hundreds of applications available to you!  Explore your options and discover new ways to secure your campus and ensure the safety of your students and faculty, keeping in mind that the more integrated the solutions you choose to implement are, the easier they will be to manage. 

There is no guaranteed way to manage campus safety, but following these steps will help to guide you to a safer and more secure district for both students and faculty. 

Lindsay Cornell is the Director of Sales for BadgePass, Inc.  BadgePass manufactures cutting edge ID Badging, Visitor Management and Access Control software.  Visit www.badgepass.com for more information.