As students return to classrooms across North America, the issue of school security takes center stage once again. What measures should schools take to improve their building security and to ensure the safety of students, staff, and visitors?
Deploying a combination of security technologies, such as door entry, access control systems, and intercoms, along with clear policies around visitors and building access, can help schools improve their building-wide security. Here are four things to consider.
Limit building entry points
While a school building will naturally have multiple entrance and exit points, schools should restrict access to one main entrance for students and public access. This means that the majority of doors in the building should remain locked from the outside and not accessible unless they need to be accessed in an emergency situation. Back entrance doors that can be used by staff should include an entry control system that requires an individual to use an access control credential, such as an access control badge or key pin to gain access. This will also create an access control log that can prove useful in the future.
Use intercoms to keep the front office secure
Another advantage of funneling building access to a central entrance point is that it allows school staff to screen visitors before permitting them to enter. In many cases, a visitor can enter a small lobby but cannot get full access into a building until that visitor is vetted by the front office. To assist with this process, schools have installed intercom systems that enable the front office staff to communicate with a visitor first before unlocking a door to allow that person to enter. Intercom systems that include an IP video camera enable school staff to also visually verify the identity of an individual. It can also help to see if a visitor is carrying any weapons or if a person is agitated in any way, enabling staff to contact security if there is a safety concern.
Invest in an entry control system
A key and lock are no longer enough to keep a school building secure or to manage building access. This is why it’s important for schools to invest in an entry control system that can safely manage entrances and generate access control reports. With an access control system in place, school security can easily manage when a staff member has access to a building, such as limiting access during the hours of 1am to 5am, or revoke access privileges when an employee no longer works for that particular school. An access control system can also generate an alert and send a notification to the school resource officer when a door does not close properly, since an open door can pose a threat to keeping the building and the occupants inside safe and secure.
Leverage visitor management tools
Schools are bustling environments consisting of a variety of people, from young students and teachers to specialists like speech therapists, vendors, volunteers, and parents. Knowing who is in a building at any given time and the length of time of that visit can be a challenge to track using old-fashioned paper logs. Many access control systems today come with visitor management capabilities and the ability to create temporary visitor credentials that can restrict a visitor’s access to certain areas of a building, when used in conjunction with a door entry control system. The visitor credentials can also be set to send a notification to front desk staff if the visitor doesn’t return to the main entrance by a certain time to log out.
School security has come a long way over the past few decades thanks to continuous investments in technology. Still, keeping people inside a school safe remains a constant issue that requires regular reviews of the technologies deployed, and maintaining best practices in building safety and access policies.
