Taking the Stress Out of Education With Security Technology in Schools

Kids have always faced stress in school.  

Whether it’s making friends, trouble on the playground, trying to fit in and be “cool” (okay, the vernacular may have changed since I was in school), taking tests, and trying to pull good grades, stress in school is not new to this generation of students.

What is new, however, is the increased stress over safety.

The New Stress In School Is Safety

Just two weeks into the new school year, most students across the nation have already practiced a “lockdown” drill which includes turning off the lights, locking the classroom door, covering the windows, and crouching down near the windows or under desks.  

Different grade levels and schools have variations to their “lockdown” drill, but the methods are the same – to avoid standing out as a target from a would-be intruder.

There is no doubt that school safety is a prominent concern – and it should be. Though it is good to prepare students for what to do in an emergency, it is also imperative that schools utilize the latest safety technology to help secure their buildings and bring some peace of mind to their staff, educators, and students.

Make no mistake, security technology in schools is a key factor for our nation’s schools in helping to prevent tragedies like Newtown, Parkland, Santa Fe, and so many others from happening at all – or at least reducing the number of tragedies and threats of violence from occurring on a daily basis.

Click here to learn more about how we are keeping schools safe.

Too many of our nation’s schools are still vulnerable to intruders due to easy access to the building.  

That needs to change.

Security Technology In Schools

Every school in our nation should have security technology in schools, like a Visitor Management System (VMS) which can:

• Provide varying degrees of access-levels

• Integrate with the  National Sex Offender Registry, and with police level background screenings

• Have the capability to run an excluded parties list on every visitor/volunteer.  

• Offer a comprehensive background screening combining, the National Criminal Database Search, the County Criminal Court Search, and the Federal Criminal Court Search.  

• Must be cloud-based, as well as work on cellular or separate WiFi networks (school networks are often blocked during an event).

• Integrate with a school database and check-in kiosk for scan-in/scan-out and authentication verifications for national ID’s 

• Provide arrest-alerts in real-time for Volunteers and Employees.

• Offer geofencing capabilities to set perimeters

• Expedite getting students to parents/guardians quickly and ensure their release to no one other than parents/guardians. 

• Emergency/Denial notification buttons

It is imperative that school administrations utilize the safety technology that is available to keep their buildings secure so that their educators can focus on teaching, and their students can get back to learning.

For more on how to implement security technology in schools, click here.