Safety and Security Issues
Video surveillance system to be in place this year

At January’s regular meeting of the FISD School Board, trustees awarded the contract for the video surveillance equipment and istalltion of Axis network cameras for all FISD schools/facilities as provided for in the 2003 bond program.

The budget in the bond allowed for $2.3 million, but the bid approved for Digital Technology and Surveillance came in at $1.185 million. After visiting many districts and conducting much research comparing analog systems using standard cameras and equipment vs. IP based systems, the Technology and Security departments recommended the latter system, which utilizes digital video cameras and servers to create a comprehensive system that allows for live and archived video to be used by both campus and central office administrators.

Executive Director of Technology and Information Services Terry Cornelius says that the district is able to take advantage of this better system because of the great network the district already has in place.

Advantages to this system were listed as follows: the system is self-monitoring, which will keep the district from having to hire more staff; the system runs over our existing network, which means less cabling; there are fewer parts, which means easier maintenance over time; it provides better quality and control over images that are recorded (the equivalent of 30 images per second just like a television); and the IP systems are more scalable and flexible.

The price tag covers the cost for all existing campuses and facilities in FISD. FHS will be completely installed by March, CHS by May, and all other existing campuses will hopefully be retrofitted by the start of school in August. The cost for the new campuses is included in the construction budget.

Kevin Haller, Director of Security, says the plan is for the high schools to have 60 pluscameras in the commons areas, halls and parking lots; the middle schools will have 45 cameras; and the elementaries will have cameras at each point of entry and in the cafeterias and gyms.

During the meeting, the Board was able to view the quality of the images because a camera had been set up at Centennial High School’s basketball game. The Board was impressed with the quality and with the ease of use, which allows an administrator to monitor what is going on from any computer with Internet access utilizing a secure password. This helps with costs by not having to have a separate monitoring system with multiple screens, etc. It helps with efficiency as well, because administrators could check an area from home or from offsite in the event of an emergency, as would law enforcement and rescue workers.

During the bond program, these systems were addressed by the citizen’s committee as an important safety consideration and as a deterrent to negative behaviors such as vandalism and theft.

At this time, Highland Park is the only other metroplex area district with this system in place. According to Mr. Cornelius during his presentation, the HPISD had tried a standard system in a parking area for test purposes and were not satisfied, so they went with the digital system.

Mr. Haller stated that another safety consideration that will be considered for utilizing the remaining bond funds designated for security will be controlled access issues.