On Jan. 26, District 99 school board members met for their monthly business meeting at the Administrative Service Center. During this meeting, the board members voted to approve new plans to advance the school’s security camera systems. This idea was proposed by Assistant Superintendent for Learning Resources, Dr. Travis McGuire.
The plan to upgrade these cameras is to utilize Motorola ALTA Cloud Migration in the security camera systems. This will allow the cameras to receive the advancements they need to continue doing their job effectively while also making footage easier to access. Superintendent Dr. Hank Thiele hopes that the new software will play an important role in the security team’s jobs.
“It’ll definitely help our administration security staff more quickly access video footage and find what they need in it, rather than having to watch hours and hours of video to find some little things in it,” Dr. Thiele said.
A huge benefit of these cameras is that security teams will be able to access videos that are faster and clearer to the viewer. The new system will also ensure the safety of students and allow for more advanced protections to be put in place.
Currently, schools have approximately 403 cameras, which can be difficult to keep track of at all times. As a result of not being able to consistently monitor each camera, this new technology will allow the footage to be rewound at a better quality.
“We have a policy of trying to keep footage for a certain amount of time, and we’re cutting really close on not being able to do that…The new software allows us to do things that we can’t currently do with our system,” Dr. McGuire said.
A huge impact on this decision was also the security guards’ efficiency. With the installation of this new software, videos will be easier to recover. The security team will be able to keep more footage and find information faster. Through using this new technology, our school will be able to benefit from the enhanced safety measures in place.
“It utilizes current AI technology…in a search functionality that is going to help us in lots of ways. It makes us more efficient in being able to review the camera footage and be more proactive,” Dr. McGuire said.
The current security cameras will not be replaced with new ones, but rather have an advancement in their software. This installation can be expected to occur in February.
“Anything that we can do to improve safety and security, we’re going to look into,” Dr Thiele said.
