Page 66 - Security Today, September 2019

Video Systems Provide Security Solutions provide security environment for educational institutions
BIy Linda Soriano
n the past few years, tragic events have increased awareness for educational insti- tutions across America. This recent spike has reminded educators and security of- ficers alike that it is the responsibility of
schools to ensure the safety of their students and employees and protect school property and equipment from theft or damage, encour- aging them to invest in security systems.
Dealers have been using access control sys- tems to help secure schools across the country. Paxton’s Net2 access control and Net2 Entry, video intercom systems provide a simple, user- friendly solution that offers benefits beyond only securing doors. Schools have the flexibil- ity to manage changing schedules, automate door open and close times during specific hours and prevent unauthorized personnel from entering school campuses.
Net2 allows people to move freely around a building, while also ensuring specific areas benefit from higher security. It can also be used as an effective registration tool, pro- viding easy, automated reporting of who is on the school campus. The reports can be custom-built for user events of individual or groups of doors. For example, if a door is forced open, an email notification is instantly sent with any associated CCTV footage if integrated with the system. Other features include the ability to personalize cards with employee and student photos for quick visual verification and anti-passback that prevents students or unauthorized users from sharing tokens used for entering a secured area.
Another key security element the system possesses is an emergency lockdown feature to secure the campus at the touch of a but- ton. In the event of an emergency lockdown, only specific security personnel can be per- mitted to pass through secured doors. When integrated with Net2 Entry, the video inter- com system, it provides a quick and con- venient way for reception staff to visually verify visitors before granting them access into the school.
However, these systems are more than just a security solution. Schools benefit from automated security settings, such as auto ex- piration dates that indicate the time period that a user’s access is valid. Visitor cards, for example, can be configured so that they au- tomatically expire after one day. Contractors or cleaning staff cards can be set to only al- low access between certain dates and times. There’s also a roll call feature that can be set up to generate an automatic roll call report
when the fire alarm goes off. This helps to identify exactly who is safe once the building has been evacuated.
Paxton systems seamlessly integrate with a range of other manufacturers including CCTV, biometrics, visitor management and intruder and fire alarms systems. System ad- ministrators can manage these systems all from one central platform, making adminis- tration simple and straightforward with Net2 software, which is also available through the Paxton Connect app or Net2 Online, the web browser interface version.
“Products and systems are stemmed from customer feedback, so everything that we design, and build is made to meet our customer needs,” said Jonathan Lach, vice president of sales at Paxton. “Schools are a major market for us, and we’ve received excellent feedback from schools like Lake Oconee Academy and Wesleyan School that we’re extremely proud of.”
Lake Oconee Academy
Lake Oconee Academy is a charter school located in Greensboro, Ga. It was established in 2007 as a Pre-K4 school and has since ex- panded to having their first senior grade class in 2018. The school is one of the highest per- forming charter schools in the state and has been listed as a Georgia Advanced Placement (AP) Honor School. It is also one of the best performing public schools in the country. The campus includes eight buildings, over 100 em- ployees and nearly 1,000 students.
As the school grew, Lake Oconee Acad- emy needed an access control system that was easily scalable and simple to use. Creating different access levels, time zones, movement tracking and event reporting were all require- ments of the new system to manage access for staff, students and visitors on campus.
The school installed Paxton’s Net2 access control system, which moves beyond the ba- sics of controlling the flow of people around a building. It is designed to make the man- agement of any site straightforward with a range of features that ensure the system is easy to use.
Several on-site users now have administra- tive rights to manage the system. The teachers and students are assigned different access lev- els, and access to the site is set up with specific time zones that fit around the normal school day. The IT department created custom ac- cess permissions for the range of school days within the software to control access across the campus and ensure no one can gain entry to the site outside of school hours.
“Our previous access control system had a lot of missing features,” said Ryan Rogers, the former IT director at Lake Oconee Academy. “Paxton’s Net2 system is simple and straight- forward, with all the features we required. It’s also cost effective, which is a big plus.”
Rogers also wanted to ensure that all employees and students were afforded an ex- tra layer of security. The lockdown feature within Net2 allows a site to lock all or spe- cific doors at once. This feature is a proactive
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ACCESS CONTROL
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