Just The Facts
Customer: Rocketship Public Schools
Location: San Jose, California
Challenge: Visitor management to protect students and staff.
Solution: A video-based visitor management system.
Results: A state-of-the-art visitor management system that controls who enters and leaves Rocketship Public Schools.
Customer Challenge
Rocketship Public Schools, a nationwide, non-profit network of public elementary charter schools, is dedicated to providing equal access to quality education for all children.
Rooted in the belief that every child has the potential to dream, discover, and develop their unique abilities, Rocketship is committed to transforming low-income communities through its scalable and sustainable school model.
As part of its ongoing effort to foster a safe and supportive learning environment, Rocketship recently implemented a modern visitor management system across 17 campuses. This initiative is designed to protect and empower every Rocketeer by safeguarding their safety. A secure school lets students, educators, and families focus on academic excellence.
Rocketship originally tasked Safe and Sound Security with securing schools in San Jose, California. Since then, that relationship has grown. The company has now secured 17 California schools and is at work securing facilities in Fort Worth, Texas; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Nashville, Tennessee.
San Jose schools already had security cameras, the ability to lock down every campus, and perimeter fencing. The issue was the school’s current security provider didn’t communicate well, and they desired a visitor management system, according to Zachary Palmquist, project manager for Safe and Sound Security.
“A locked-down campus complicates visitor management,” he says. “The days when people could walk into a school and interact with kids directly are long gone.”
The initial buildings that the company secured were the four at the San Jose site. The buildings are located at the end of a cul-de-sac in an unsafe neighborhood. A driveway gate and a pedestrian walkway gate provide security.
The school also had an outdated visitor management system, consisting of an Aiphone and Lenel lock system, for protection. With this technology, school officials could hear parents’ voices but couldn’t see them. School officials sought a system for parents to communicate via video feed. If school personnel deemed everything OK, they could unlock the door.
According to Palmquist, Rocketship’s investment in Verkada simplified their objectives.
“With Verkada, everything is under one plane of glass, so we were able to swap out the existing equipment with Verkada intercoms and card readers, so staff in the reception area could allow or deny access via a video intercom system,” he says.
The best part is this system design is easily replicated. “It’s a cookie-cutter process, even if school layouts are different,” he says.
Safe Student Spaces Inside
Having an intercom at the main entrance is just one portion of Rocketship’s security plan, according to Palmquist.
Rocketship also wanted video intercoms on doors inside the reception area. Palmquist explains every school has a main entry door to the reception area, and another locked door that leads into the student area.
“They not only wanted to control that first door but also the door entering the secure area of the school, where students are present,” he says. “So, in case a parent or someone got in that they didn’t want near students, there’s a second door they can lock to prevent them from getting in.”
This capability is also designed to be replicated at other schools, he adds.
“This layer of security can be done across all sites,” Palmquist explains. “The layout might change, but the problem we are trying to solve stays the same and is addressed in the same way.”
Future Steps
Video intercom also wasn’t the total security solution, Palmquist adds. He explains Rocketship also wanted to add visitor management.
“We did all the schools on this cookie-cutter principle of access control,” he says. “But the school also has a budget for video management through Verkada.”
When arriving at the school, visitors will scan their ID into the tablet computer next to the video intercom system. The system conducts a background check based on Megan’s Law, which requires sex offenders to register with law enforcement, disclose their location to the public, and identifies anyone who fits this criteria.
“They are also able to input custody information, where, for example, a parent is unable to see a child,” he says. “They can run their information through the database and make sure the parent, grandparent or whomever may see the child.”
The Antioch, California, school took security even farther, adds Palmquist.
“This school has a lot of transients walking through the parking lot,” he says. “We installed Verkada speakers and video monitoring that works, which gives us the ability to talk to anyone on the grounds after hours using Verkada analytics. If a person crosses a line into this area, it triggers the video monitoring agent to talk to them, and if they do not leave, alert authorities that they are on the premises.”
The system employs automated analytics to identify individuals on the property. While some systems simply request people to leave, Verkada’s system provides more specific information. For instance, it might say, “Please vacate the premises, person in the red hoodie and backpack.”
He explains the device also allows for two-way audio, enabling voice communication and audio monitoring.
If the person doesn’t leave, the system alerts the site manager, who addresses the problem if no harm is done. “But if they are over there damaging the facility or anything like that, the system will automatically dispatch authorities,” he says.
Palmquist affirms this new capability has been well received and will be rolled out to other sites. “Antioch was chosen first because it is a site that lacks a fully gated perimeter,” he explains.
Working Together Well
With 17 installations under their belts, the teams at Safe and Sound Security and Rocketship work really well together.
Rocketship sends over the school layouts after securing funding from local and government sources. Then Safe and Sound Security dispatches a surveyor to walk the site with school officials and staff.
“We walk the site, talk about how we are going to get cables from A to B, and the security problems they are experiencing,” he says. “Later, we present our plan to them via a video call and go from there. It’s a pretty well-oiled machine.”
Working outside of California, where Safe and Sound Security is headquartered, is no problem either, according to Palmquist.
The company partners with quality subcontractors in every state. “Tom, our construction and project manager, has done this work his entire career and knows how to navigate the waters, communicate with subs, and manage jobs remotely,” he says.
Every site utilizes the Verkada platform, allowing Safe and Sound Security technicians to enter serial numbers for all equipment to configure and test it remotely. The only task left for subcontractors is to plug in the systems.
“Their IT team gives us the IP addresses and ports they want us to plug into their equipment when it comes online,” he says. “Then we work with technicians on site and do the live adjustments remotely.”
Addressing Problems With New Solutions
“The buildings may be different, but the problem we’re trying to solve remains the same,” Palmquist says. “We need to control access to the reception area, and beyond.”
However, because each Rocketship school is unique, the installation process requires a customized approach, he says. Palmquist explains some buildings are older with hard cap ceilings, and others have drop-tile ceilings.
“Every building presents its own unique problems,” he says. “That’s where the site surveyor and their information comes in. We have to figure out how to get cables from A to B.”
Locksmithing affected doors also gets challenging, he adds.
“There are different doors at every building, and every door is unique,” he says. “We need unique locking hardware, cable paths, and connections at every one.”
At the Santa Clara installation, for example, the old intercom ran on a two-wire system instead of Cat5 or Cat6 cable. This required techs to run new cables, but conduits were already in place underground and covered by cement.
Palmquist solved the problem by using a two-wire converter and adding converters on both ends of the existing cable to convert the two-wire connection to an Ethernet connection.
Once this was done, they encountered an issue with the gooseneck cover that housed the intercom.
Palmquist explains, “To have the converters, we needed a device on each end of the cable. It was not a problem on the inside because there was enough space in the room. But on the intercom side, we need to place a device behind the intercom. This required us to replace the gooseneck cover with a new one that has a drop-down door, which gave us enough room behind the intercom to accommodate the device.”
The presence of separate IT departments for each school makes integrating into the school district network challenging. These IT departments have their own equipment and prefer to handle their own network management.
“We solve this by utilizing their network infrastructure for communication but have them create a security VLAN, so we can keep traffic from security devices separate from school data traffic,” he says.
Training & Maintenance
Rocketship entered a comprehensive service level agreement (SLA) with Safe and Sound Security to cover training and maintenance.
Under this agreement, Safe and Sound Security provides training, and its technicians monitor system operation and promptly address any issues or alerts to ensure optimal performance.
The completed system grants backend access to all devices for remote repairs. In the absence of a remote solution, Safe and Sound Security dispatches technicians to resolve the issue and install needed replacement parts. Technicians also come out annually to clean and test systems.
The result is a security system that works as intended to make Rocketship staff and students more secure.
The successful relationship between Rocketship and Safe and Sound Security continues to grow, Palmquist adds.
“There are plans to add cameras and alarm systems to every school,” he says. “They are opening new sites all the time, and we will be the security vendor that designs the system, installs it and maintains it. There will be a full Verkada platform on every site when all is said and done.”
Safe and Sound Security
75 E Santa Clara St 6th floor, San Jose, CA 95113, United States
+1 408-560-4799
https://getsafeandsound.com/locations/san-jose/
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