US public schools implement extensive RFID-based identification solution for staff and students
Following the recent fire arm incidents that plagued multiple schools and universities across the UK, the new Jersey’s Belleville Public School District is implementing an active radio frequency identification solution to locate students and faculty members within its schools, as well as students on its 21 buses.
According to a news report on this matter, the new tech is being implemented as part of an extensive security system that the district believes will make its students and staff some of the best-protected in the United States. The use of RFID, cameras with built-in analytic software, and a new phone system—as well as the posting of armed officers and a new director of security—is intended to prevent tragedies like the December 2012 shooting in Newtown, Ct., and to provide location data for use in generating attendance reports, or during a problem such as a medical emergency or fight.
As part of the program, the district is installing 190 readers throughout its schools, and plans to provide RFID tags to its 600 staff members and 4,800 students. RFID readers are also being installed on its 21 buses, each with GPS units to identify the location of each tag read, and to forward that data to the software residing on the district’s database via a cellular connection.
Staff members’ tags come with two buttons. Pressing one of the buttons indicates that help is required (the software can forward an alert to employees onsite), while the other signals a 911-level event (such as a shooter being in a room), and can also trigger a call to police and other emergency services.
Furthermore, staff members’ tags, as well as those of middle- and high-school students, will also come with passive low-frequency (LF) RFID inlays to enable access control. Teachers, for example, could use the LF inlays to enter restricted areas, while older students would utilize the proximity function to access bathrooms. If an excessive number of students attempted to enter the bathrooms, they could be denied entrance. Moreover, the software could identify if the same individuals were repeatedly visiting the bathrooms simultaneously, possibly suggesting a drug-use or fighting issue.
Last, but certainly not least, it’s interesting to mention that the technology may also eliminate the need for teachers to take attendance at the beginning of each class.
Access Control UK employs a variety of access control technologies, including here RFID, to create advanced solutions, enable users to exert solid, reliable and accurate control over the access to specific premises or zones.
If you’d like to find out more about the range of solutions supplied by Access Control UK, both in terms of hardware (smart card readers, biometric readers, turnstiles, etc.) and software (access rights management software solutions, etc.), just contact us, we’ll be more than happy to answer any queries you might have.