Frisco | August 2023

EDUCATION Frisco ISD invests in safety with campus doorbell installations

2023 EDUCATION EDITION

BY ALEX REECE

when they’re not with their parents, is in one of our schools,” Haller said. Why it matters One benet of the new system is its potential to stop certain incidents before they happen. It took some time to relay the new camera rules to parents, Haller said. Most parents would park, walk up to the school to pick up their child and have to return to the parking lot to retrieve their ID. The additional security is not designed to keep students out of the school when they are supposed to be there, Haller said. School sta at the front oces monitoring the cameras have been trained to recognize enrolled students, some who will also have student ID cards that they can show the camera if necessary. “Our mission is to know every student by name and need,” Manag- ing Director of Transportation Jerad Castor said. If a student trying to get into the building does not have an ID, as they are not mandatory at all schools, sta monitoring the cameras can also look up their name in the system to quickly conrm their identity and if they are currently enrolled. Parents and students are not the only ones beneting from the new system. Sta members working in the front oce are also protected, Assistant Communications Director Korinna Kirchho said. “Think of a high school you’ve been to,” Kirchho said. “You were

A pilot program rst introduced at an elementary school in 2019 is going district wide. All Frisco ISD schools are equipped with a new doorbell system installed near building entrances for the 2023-24 school year. The doorbells themselves are similar to the popular Ring video camera systems, Director of Security Kevin Haller said. The doorbell cameras are also linked to their school’s phone system, which allows a guest to push the buzzer and a sta member at the front desk can pick up the phone to speak to them while watching the video feed on a monitor. The cameras are constantly recording during school hours, Haller said. “It’s really gone to another level,” Haller said. Zooming out Even before the doorbells, FISD schools already had checks in place to keep both students and sta safe. “Our interior doors have always been locked,” Haller said. “No parent or visitor would be able to go beyond that point. Then, in 2019, we looked at better ways to secure our campuses.” Smith Elementary School was the rst campus to install the cameras in 2019 before some of the district’s other elementary schools and middle schools gradually followed. Wakeland High School was the rst high school to install the doorbell cameras in 2022. “The safest place for our kids to be,

Newly-installed doorbells on Frisco ISD campuses have cameras that record nonstop during school hours.

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SECURING CAMPUSES All district campuses are moving toward a secure doorbell system. It will be rolled out district wide for the 2023-24 school year. The cameras are positioned at the front of each campus like at Wakeland High School and operate similar to Ring doorbells with cameras.

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The cameras are similar to Ring doorbells, ocials said.

able to just walk in the front door and then walk straight to the front oce sta without anyone stopping you.” Keep in mind Adding this extra stop before entering a school goes against most people’s instincts, Haller said. The doorbells would not have been implemented throughout the district without the overall positive

eect it had on the pilot schools, Haller said. Most visitors, especially at high schools, are parents coming to pick up their child to go to a doctor’s appointment. “Once they’re vetted, they’re told that you can have a seat on the bench or you can go to your car, and we’ll send your student now, so there’s a whole lot less trac in that entry area,” he said.

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FRISCO EDITION • AUGUST 2023