A Security Plan Overview for Orange and Seminole Counties

Security technology in public school systems around the country is growing, and not necessarily as a result of well-publicized tragedies.

"Years ago, we used technology to protect the so-called high-value areas such as offices, computer classrooms and business classrooms," says Gerald Folks, administrator of security services for Florida's Orange county Public School System. "Today, however, virtually every room in a school has computers or some other kind of technology. So we have begun to protect schools from the perimeter all the way through the interior."

Orange County is the 14th largest school district in the nation, but its use of security technology is increasingly common. In 1999, Sonitrol installed intrusion detection systems in more than 10,000 elementary and secondary schools and colleges across the country. Of the 500 largest public school districts in the country, about 80 employ Sonitrol's services.

In Orange County alone, 134 of 144 school buildings use technology installed by Sonitrol of Orlando, and Folks plans to bring the remaining 10 schools on line this year.

In Seminole County, right next to Orange County, Robert DeVecchio, coordinator of school security, has equipped 51 of 54 school buildings with Sonitrol security technology and plans to add the remaining three school buildings to the system this year.

Door alarms and audio sensors protect all buildings in the two school systems, and a growing number of schools are employing access control and CCTV technology. Monitoring hundreds of door and audio alarms in a single school and thousands of such devices across entire school districts requires people and technology working 24 hours a day. Sonitrol monitors the systems for both Orange and Seminole Counties.

Also, Orange County and Sonitrol have undertaken a beta test of an advanced access control system in a new, five-building Orange County campus called a "smart" school under a Florida-based educational technology program. "Sonitrol has designed a platform that combines debit technology with access control," says Patrick Crane, a loss prevention supervisor for Sonitrol of Orlando, Fla. "So students can use the card to pay for lunches and to access features in the media center." Orange County intends to incorporate more smart features with the cards in the future.

Most of Orange County's local CCTV systems employ multiplexers and VCRs, but Folks will be upgrading to digital video recorders with multiplexing capabilities allowing them to log in through a laptop or home computer and access cameras on school property. They have this capability in about a half-dozen schools so far.

In the Seminole County School District, DeVecchio has equipped 27 schools with CCRV systems. In late 2001, DeVecchio replaced the VCRs and multiplexers in five of these CCTV systems with a digital video recorder. The system also allows DeVecchio to view cameras from remote computers via an Internet connection.

Although Seminole County Schools - like most districts - occasionally fall victim to crime, the district's security technology helps defuse problematic situations with students as well as to prevent and thwart crime while keeping an eye on students.

Source: Michael Fickes, Access Control & Security Systems, January 2002.