Page 122 - Security Today, November/December 2018

EMERGENCY RESPONSE
was build a button and do a little math.” From there, a panic button solution was born: MadeSafe. The solution is a complete system that accurately locates employees in distress and is fully integrated into Enseo’s technology platform. Ogle knew from the get-go that she would one day like to see this
solution in an educational environment.
Fast forward to December of 2017: Ogle was working with D Magazine for an article about a day in the life of area CEOs. Ogle told the reporter that her daughter would be sing- ing in a Christmas concert as a third-grade member of the choir from a Lovejoy ISD ele- mentary school—she asked if they could reschedule the interview, or work around it,
but the reporter asked to come along. Throughout the day, Ogle was asked by the reporter what she wished she could be doing
that she wasn’t currently doing.
“I’m so glad that I am keeping housekeep-
ers safe, but what I want to be doing is using that technology to keep our children safe,” Ogle told the D Magazine reporter. “I just need the time and energy to figure out how to do that and who to talk to.”
Months later, the article was published and included in the piece was a photo of the Puster Elementary School choir. Excited to see the image, Ogle forwarded along the arti- cle to the choir instructor, who then forward- ed it along to an assistant superintendent.
It was there that Assistant Superintendent Dr. Dennis Womack saw the comment Ogle made about keeping children safe with Enseo’s MadeSafe solution. It was exactly the kind of solution that the superintendent’s team had been thinking of implementing at Lovejoy ISD.
QUICK DEPLOYMENT
Immediately after seeing the solution, the Lovejoy ISD team asked Enseo and Ogle to demonstrate the product and talk them through the solution. Within two weeks, the team decided to move full steam ahead, tell- ing Enseo they wanted a MadeSafe panic but- ton around the neck of every Lovejoy staff member by the first day of school—which began in five weeks.
Enseo was up to the challenge. From the moment that Enseo knew and understood that Lovejoy wanted the solution, they began working to set up the system.
“They instantly had everything we needed at the tip of their fingers,” Ogle said of the Lovejoy administration. “I’ve never seen an organization so well organized. From data on blueprints, data on network infrastructure,
wiring diagrams, building diagrams—they gave us access to everything.”
Ogle sent her teams to the Lovejoy cam- puses, where they began to survey each build- ing and put together their own system engi- neering network diagrams. From there, the teams deployed the on-campus equipment, which includes receivers or gateways in every classroom and public student space. These receivers and gateways, or beacons, create a high-resolution detection grid of the campus.
“There’s a lot of cloud-based computing to understand what the maps of the campuses look like,” Ogle said. “[The MadeSafe solution] also holds blueprints and camera footage of what is happening on those campuses so that when first responders can come in, not only as quickly as possible, but with as much data as possible, so they can make the best choices for how they will address whatever the situation is.”
After the on-campus equipment was installed and running, the Enseo team set out to deploy their PLDs, or Personal Locator Devices, to the Lovejoy teachers. Now, Love- joy ISD requires all staff members to wear their PLD as part of their ensemble.
“[The PLD] has been assigned to each employee so the system understands who has hit the button for three seconds, signaling the alarm,” Ogle said. “The cloud-based comput- ing system tells us who set off the alarm and where they are located. Designated personnel, including administrators and first responders, are all alerted to the need of this particular teacher, in that particular classroom, by a text message, an email and on the base station.”
Moore says the solution was exactly what they were looking for.
“As we were studying, we knew that we
needed to find an opportunity to cut down on the response time, and since we were adding officers to each campus, it became even more important,” Moore said. “We didn’t know about Enseo at first, but we knew what we wanted. That’s why we were able to make a quick decision, because it was a round peg for a round hole that we had created.”
DISTRICT FEEDBACK
After installing and deploying the MadeSafe solution, the feedback from the staff has been positive.
“I think people are thrilled with the oppor- tunity,” Moore said. “A teacher’s first priority is the safety of their children, but when they see there has been another school shooting involving the staff, you have to know that rattles them.”
The district hopes that the MadeSafe solu- tion will help them to move forward to a safer, more secure campus, but they aren’t leaving anything up to chance. In addition to the MadeSafe solution, new director of security and safety, and counselors, the district is look- ing into better securing their athletic events, training their students in first aid and starting more security and safety committees to con- tinue the conversation of security on campus.
Director of Security and Safety Dan Buholtz, who has a background in military and law enforcement, may be new to the school district but is passionate about the safety of the students, as his daughter attends class at one of the elementary schools.
“I trust our director of security and safety to protect each and every one of our 4,500 students like he is protecting his own daugh- ter,” Moore said.
Buholtz is motivated to live up to Moore’s expectation and carry out the district’s plans to secure their schools.
“The community as a whole here has taken it amongst themselves to create an environ- ment where kids feel safe,” Buholtz said. “It is phenomenal.”
As for Enseo and Ogle, they are just as excited as Lovejoy to be bringing safety and security to the school district.
“To have the opportunity to launch this solution in an independent school district who is truly focusing on all the aspects of wellbeing of these students
– we couldn’t be more proud,” Ogle said.
Sydny Shepard is the Execu- tive Editor of Campus Secu- rity & Life Safety.
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