Page 120 - Security Today, November/December 2018

EMERGENCY RESPONSE
ABOVE AND BEYOND
LoveJoy ISD finds perfect partnership to increase safety and security of students By Sydny Shepard
Lovejoy Independent School District sits just 25 miles north of Dallas, Texas, on a 19-square-mile area in Collin County. The district is home to more than 4,500 students in grades K-12 and is known for its exemplary academic, fine arts and athletic programs. If there was any area in which the district wished to improve, it was the safety and security of their campuses.
Lovejoy ISD superintendent Ted Moore remembers the exact moment that the district decided to put more intense efforts into their security program. It all started with a group of volunteer parents.
“We had a safety committee that we ran in the spring,” Moore said. “The majority of the parents were in law enforcement of some kind; police officers, retired police officers or former experience in the mili- tary. After the session, a gentleman came up to me and said, ‘We moved to Lovejoy for some very definite reasons—including the aca- demics and athletics—but now, looking at your safety and security program, I’d call what you are doing mediocre.’”
Lovejoy ISD does not do mediocre.
“These kids deserve exemplary around every important corner,” Moore said. “So from that day in April, we made a commitment to safety and security. It was going to be a new day by the time school started again in August.”
IDENTIFYING SECURITY CONCERNS
Lovejoy began their assessment of security and safety and decided to focus in on three particular concerns: hardening buildings, crime pre- vention and decreasing response time to their campuses, as they are located in a rural area.
The district put several things in motion during the summer break before the 2018-2019 academic school year, including hiring on sev- eral school counselors, a Ph.D. psychologist to assess kids exhibiting concerning behaviors and six security officers for each of the campuses in the district, as well as a Director of Safety and Security.
“Before, the safety and security function had been just tied to one of the assistant superintendents among the list of 20 things he was responsible for,” Moore said. “As we did our assessment, we recognized we were going to need a professional in that area.”
In order to address decreasing response times to their rural campuses, the superintendent’s team had decided upon an emergency response system of some type. At the same time, founder and CEO of Enseo, Vanessa Ogle was completing an interview with D Magazine, a popular magazine in the Dallas metroplex, entitled “My Day: Vanessa Ogle.”
PURE HAPPENSTANCE
While this seems completely unrelated, it will all make sense in the end. Enseo was founded by Ogle in 2000 as a technology services pro- vider that focuses on innovative technology with which you can deliv- er a service. The majority of Enseo’s clients are hotels, where the com- pany delivers, among many things, entertainment and Wi-Fi services. One day, a client expressed interest in a solution to help keep house- keepers safe due to an ordinance in New York.
The lightbulb in Ogle’s head immediately went off.
“I thought, ‘You already have the technology installed that can do that,’” Ogle said. “We already have a 3D map of the hotel, I already know when things are happening in a specific area of the hotel and there is already a communication network in place. All we had to do
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CAMPUS SECURITY & LIFE SAFETY