Watertown district previews safety upgrades: school safety officer, AI cameras, digital radios and weapons-detection pilot

District leaders presented the Watertown City School District’s proposed 2025 safety plan at a public hearing and outlined several security upgrades planned for the coming school year, including an additional School Safety Officer (SSO), an AI-enabled camera system, a new district-wide digital radio network, and a portable weapons-detection pilot.

The district said it will add a full-time School Safety Officer, a retired Watertown Police Department officer, who will be stationed at Ohio Elementary School and provide support for all elementary buildings. “That person will be stationed at Ohio Elementary School, but his support for all of our elementary schools,” the superintendent said during the hearing.

Technology upgrades: Jeff, the district’s director of IT and cybersecurity, described a cloud-based camera system on the main campus (high school, Wiley and CASE) designed to reduce manual video review and allow automated searches for specified objects, clothing, vehicles or after-hours presence. Jeff told the board the system includes an AI engine to “very quickly alert to certain situations” and said it will allow staff to search video by appearance or vehicle features and deliver automatic alerts to designated personnel.

Jeff also described a new digital radio system that began installation the day before the meeting. Unlike the older analog radios that operate only within an individual building, the new radios will be digital, encrypted, and have much broader coverage, likely extending across city limits. The radios will support private one-to-one calls, role-based call groups (for example custodians or administrators), integration with the camera, lockdown, PA and phone systems, and the ability to call a radio by assigning a phone number.

Weapons-detection pilot: The district is piloting a portable weapons-detection system, Open Gate, at Watertown High School and Case Middle School. The district described the system as “pillars that they walk through,” designed for throughput so students can walk at normal pace without pausing. The system is intended to detect firearms and certain large knives or machetes; students leave laptops and similar items on a table while walking through, and secondary screening with wands is used when an alarm occurs. District staff said the pillars weigh about 20 pounds, use Milwaukee batteries that last approximately 14 hours, are portable for events and are waterproof.

Facility security and training: Secure vestibule construction for Wiley and Ohio elementary schools is scheduled to begin, with work beginning on the district office vestibule. The district reiterated its “Stop the Bleed” training and classroom kits initiative and said SSOs and other staff will attend training, including an annual SRO conference in Niagara Falls in late August. The district listed its SSO hires by name: a retired state trooper (Massillon), Paul Mendez (retired state trooper), Erica Derwin (former Watertown Police detective) and Jason Badalado (recently retired from Watertown PD).

Context from the public hearing: The superintendent said these upgrades follow a capital prioritization and are part of continuing efforts to update aging systems. “Our current system … has been in place for now probably almost 6 or 7 years; it's antiquated,” Jeff said, adding the cloud-based system will “free up our staff's time” by automating searches and alerts.

What happens next: The public hearing concluded after board members asked for any questions; the district staff said the plan is required and that changes will be incorporated for the 2025–26 school year. No formal vote on the safety plan was recorded in the meeting minutes; the district said work on secure vestibules and radio installation is underway and that staff will continue training and logistics work ahead of the school year.