Playing It Safe

That’s his charge now.

 

He takes it seriously. Very seriously

 

“Things have changed,” he said. “Sandy Hook. Virginia Tech. Columbine. We have to protect our precious children. Anyone who sends children to Collegiate…they want to know that their children are safe.”

 

During his tenure, the school has made numerous upgrades to ensure greater security of the facilities, no small task considering the campus design and the climate of the times.

 

In fact, Stone and his team are constantly studying and brainstorming ideas to protect the students and adults who spend the better part of their days on North Mooreland Road.

 

Four years ago, technicians installed a keyless entry system on Luck Hall, the multi-use building on the south end of campus that houses kindergarten classes, Cougar Care, and the Cougar Quest and human resources offices.

 

In 2015, when Margolis Healy, a well-respected security/safety consulting firm, made a campus assessment, its representatives recommended that the keyless entry system be added to all other buildings.

 

“We decided that the progression would be to finish the Lower School and then move north,” Stone explained. “The reasoning was that in the Lower School, the children lack the experience to make decisions if a crisis occurred. It was a no-brainer to start there.”

 

Once the Lower School was complete, the entry devices were installed on Jacobs Gym and the athletic center. This summer, they were added to the other buildings north of the creek.

 

“It’s a huge culture change and huge operational change for the school,” Stone said. “We started with one building. We figured if we could make it work in a building as versatile as Luck Hall, we could make it work anywhere.”

 

After much vetting and deliberation, Collegiate contracted Architectural Products of Virginia to install an electronic access control system called Avigilon.

 

“It’s a web-based program, one of the top-of-the-line programs out there,” Stone continued. “Scott Carson (director of facilities management and construction) and I began with a floor plan. With his construction experience and my security knowledge, we devised a proposal. Then the division administrators in charge weighed in.”

 

This past spring, Stone recorded the thumb or index-finger print of each faculty and staff member. He repeated the process for new employees during their August orientation.

 

“We take a picture of your fingerprint,” Stone said. “It turns into a binary code, which allows the door to open. I can see that I have your print, but I can’t look at it or share it.”

 

Outside doors of the Lower School remain locked at all times because students usually move in groups accompanied by a teacher. Buildings north of the creek are open during periods of use but accessible only by electronic means after hours.

 

“We put readers near parking areas,” Stone added. “We looked at it from a bird’s-eye view. If someone parks there and wants to enter a building, which door will they most likely go to? We tried to make it as convenient as possible.”

 

An attractive feature of the Avigilon system is the buildings will lock in the evening and unlock in the morning as programmed. And in the event of an emergency or – heaven forbid – a crisis, Stone and selected others can lock and unlock all campus doors instantaneously from any location using an app on their smartphones.

 

“In general, schools are still very safe,” Stone said. “Collegiate is very safe. We just need to make sure it stays that way. If we get complacent, it’ll eventually catch up with you. We definitely won’t get complacent.”

   -- Weldon Bradshaw