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Board approves access control, visitor-management and camera upgrades funded by safety grant
Summary
Trustees approved districtwide security upgrades including access control at the new central office and secondary campus upgrades, a Raptor-based emergency and visitor-management platform, and a migration to Video Insight surveillance cameras funded by a Safe and Facility Enhancement grant.
The Southwest ISD Board of Trustees approved multiple security and safety technology upgrades at its May meeting, using awarded Safe and Facility Enhancement grant funds for parts of the work.
Why it matters: the upgrades are intended to standardize access control, improve visitor and emergency management, and increase video retention and investigative capability across district facilities.
District staff recommended installing an access control system at the new Central Office and upgrading five secondary campuses to match the district’s preferred access-control configuration. Mr. Figueroa, a district staff member presenting the security items, said district staff selected 360 Integrated — a vendor that previously installed secondary campus systems — and recommended using the vendor under an existing cooperative contract. The board approved the combined access-control installation and secondary-campus upgrades at a total cost of $365,035. Funding will come from Safe and Facility Enhancement Cycle 1 grant funds; staff said the district pays upfront and is reimbursed under the grant.
On visitor and emergency management, district staff recommended Raptor Technologies for a consolidated emergency-management system and upgraded visitor management because it offers a reunification system, incident mapping, badge alerts and integration with the district’s student information system. Board members approved the recommendation to adopt Raptor as the district’s emergency and visitor-management platform.
For surveillance cameras, staff proposed migrating district sites to a Video Insight platform using iPro cameras to increase footage clarity, widen camera angles and lengthen footage retention to about 30–45 days. Staff recommended purchasing and installing the Video Insight system through Altex under the BuyBoard cooperative; the purchase and installation cost cited was $421,831 and will be funded from Safe 1 Cycle grant funds. Staff said the migration would eliminate ongoing annual licensing fees previously paid to the older vendor.
Decisions versus discussion: the access-control, Raptor and camera purchases were formal approvals. Staff described technical differences among platforms and potential savings from owning the Video Insight platform rather than paying recurring licensing.
Clarifying details: access-control installation and upgrades total $365,035; camera migration purchase and installation $421,831 through Altex (BuyBoard); grant funding is reimbursable to the district. Raptor was selected after comparing platforms including Crisis Go and Syntegix.
What happens next: projects will be implemented over the summer and next school year, with staff proceeding with contracts and installations under the approved vendor arrangements.
