School Security Upgrades Ahead Of School Reopenings

July 24th, 2020

Many schools in TX and the rest of the country are finalizing their plans for welcoming students back after being closed for several months due to COVID-19. While the members of school staff work hard to ensure the health and safety of their students, it is also recommended that they take a look at possible school security upgrades ahead of school reopening. What better time to re-evaluate security than now?

School Security Touch Points

When investing in the safety of a Houston school, there are several areas or touchpoints to consider. Each of these deserves the same security and effort that is given to other aspects of the school, student, and staff safety. Some of these touchpoints and security options to consider include:

• Electronic Access Door Controls
• Surveillance Cameras
• Radios
• New Server And Software Solutions
• An Upgraded Intercom And Paging System
• More Training When It Comes To Safety Protocol In Schools

School Safety Best Practices

When putting policies and procedures in place for school security, you don’t want to overcomplicate things. This can waste valuable time and resources. When choosing an upgraded alert system for a campus, it should be simple and effective. 

Having an alert button for teachers and enabling mobile capabilities are just a couple of things you can do to upgrade the current security and safety protocol of a school campus. With mobile capabilities in place, communication is more effective. Alerts can be sent out via text message, email, phone, instant messaging, or the school's intercom system. This means valuable information will be shared in a more efficient manner.

More Flexible Security Options

A school campus may also want to consider how beneficial flexible security options can be. Potential threats to the safety and security of a campus can change quickly, so the right policies and procedures need to be put into place and implemented at once. 

These procedures need to evolve to address future changes. What worked the year before may not be as effective during the current year.

Situational Awareness In Real-Time

Fast response times are critical when it comes to campus safety. A crisis needs to be resolved and the safe environment of the school has to be restored as quickly as possible. 

Procedures and technology should be in place to alert the authorities and provide them with critical real-time information. This may include communicating which building is experiencing a problem or how many people are involved. Real-time mobile status updates that include mapping information can be sent to the authorities to answer those questions and provide them with the information they need to be able to help. 

Cost-Effective Solutions

Finally, many other cost-effective solutions such as updated access control systems and technology can be used in upgrading a Houston school's security. You can use existing networks and infrastructure to improve the system and implement new technology such as mass notification and door locking systems.

For more information on security upgrades that can be beneficial to a school campus, contact your local security experts today.