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NEWSWIRE
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10 schools trade keys for cards |
By Al Edwards - 05.06.2008
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BRANDON, Miss.--Officials at Rankin County School District used to be able to open any door within the district with a single key but recently theft was increasing at several schools. To combat the problem, it installed a keyless solution at 10 of its 26 facilities.
"We have had some equipment and money stolen after hours," said Hugh Carr, the school district's superintendent. "We began to realize that even though we are as careful as we are with giving out keys, there are multiple keys that are handed out and we could not monitor everyone who had one of those keys."
Using a $900,000 Secure Our Schools Program grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, the district invested in DSX access control system installed by Siemens Building Technologies. The solution operates from an IT server in the district's main administrative building but each school's principal can monitor the solution from their own offices. They do not have access to the other schools' computers.
The school district needed to limit access because of the increase in petty crimes such as stolen wallets or broken windows -- the previous system led to a potential for greater thefts and robberies, Carr said.
"There were times when doors were left ajar or access was gained to a building outside of normal school hours," he said. "We didn't know if a door was left open before, but this will alert us if a door is ajar."
That led to perpetrators walking into the school and stealing personal items from lockers or breaking school property, Carr said.
A total of 108 card readers were installed in four high schools, four elementary schools and two administrative offices. The high schools have keypads on exterior doors and office doors, while the elementary school has readers on only the exterior doors, Carr said.
One door per building is assigned for after-hours use, said Scott Black, sales executive with Siemens. In case of an emergency, officials can lockdown the school immediately.
The district issued each staff and faculty member an ID card approximately the size of a credit card, and each card contains biometric information.
School officials could also integrate the solution with CCTV, time and attendance or intrusion detection
Carr said the district, which has 18,000 students and nearly 2,800 faculty and staff, has not discussed those possibilities, but future schools will be outfitted with the keycard solutions.
The district is opening an elementary school in August 2008 and another elementary school in 2009.
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