“Campus security, at all educational levels, has lately come to the forefront of public conscious,” says Gorm Tuxen, General Manager Nedap Identification Systems Americas. “School administrators across the country are struggling to secure their campuses, which typically have many staff, students, and visitors coming and going. This new technology helps overcome common security challenges without undermining convenience.”

Hands-free door access

The Hollister School District serves approximately 1400 students and has over 224 employees. To improve their security, the campus implemented Nedap’s solution for hands-free door access. Card access technology is nothing new, but Nedap has made critical improvements to enable extended range authorisation on a passive credential, a credential that is the same size as a common proximity access card. To do so, Nedap developed a small form factor reader, the Upass Access, that can easily mount on a standard door mullion, readily integrate with most access control systems, and read a credential from up to 2 metres (6 ft.). These performance capabilities facilitate hands-free access authorisation making high throughput portals flow freely while maintaining security protocols.

“The addition of this technology combines the best of both worlds - free flow access and maintained security. It’s common for teachers and staff to have a handful of items when approaching a door and having to search for and present an access card is both a hassle and a hazard. This eliminates that need. Plus, the added convenience has resulted in better compliance with our security protocols. In the past it was more common for teachers to prop open a door or hold the door open for others in order to either be polite or helpful. And while we encourage polite behaviour, in this case it was circumventing our security policies. That is very important because the best polices in the world won’t work if your people don’t adhere to them,” said Hollister R-V Assistant Superintendent Sean Woods.

Long-range vehicle identification

As part of the project, Nedap also installed long-range vehicle access readers and tags for Hollister’s school buses. This technology ensures that only authorised drivers driving an assigned district vehicle can enter and leave the premises, preventing unauthorised vehicle exit or entry within school premises. The enhanced security system also creates a record of every event and documents which drivers were driving what vehicles on any given day. The system also prevents a vehicle undergoing maintenance from exiting the yard before it is released for service.

This fully integrated long-range security demonstration pilot is the first of its kind in the United States to include both long-range door and vehicle access technology from Nedap.