Schlage Computer-Managed (CM) Locks Increase Security, Decrease Costs at
Newark Unified School District
CM Locks Slash District Re-Keying Time from 9 Weeks to 2.5 Hours
FORESTVILLE, CONN. – September 24, 2003 – IR Security & Safety’s Electronic Access Control Division (EACD) today announced that Newark Unified School District in Northern California has installed 573 Schlage computer-managed (CM) locks throughout the district in order to provide greater security at its campuses and cut down dramatically on the cost and time involved in re-keying locks.
"The main reason for installing the new locks was security," says Paul Manley, director of maintenance operations and transportation for Newark Unified School District. "Hardwiring the locks would have been cost prohibitive. With the Schlage locks, we can individually program them and also get audit trails, which tell us who went where and at what time."
Locks can also be programmed to keep people out of areas for a variety of reasons that are not security related.
"The superintendents and custodians are really happy when they've just refinished the gym floor and they can keep everyone out for a specified number of days," Manley says.
All exterior classrooms, hall entrances, exterior doors, offices, libraries and gyms have the new locks. CM locks have been installed over old doors and on new fiberglass reinforced polypropylene doors, which are very strong and even repel graffiti. The district started installing the locks last September and it has now completed the full installation. District doors have been set to auto lock at 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. That's because custodians usually come in before 10 p.m. and sometimes forget to lock the doors. Also, construction workers sometimes stay later than 10 p.m. and if they forget to lock a door, it will lock itself at
1 a.m.
Manny Franco, a district maintenance specialist, programs all of the locks. No longer does he need to rekey all locks if a person leaves District employment. Now, it takes him less than two and a half hours to reprogram and replace a card for all locks at the high school, much less than the nine weeks it took to re-key all the doors. While the cost of re-keying an entire campus used to cost about $25,000, it now costs less than $100 to replace a card and reprogram the locks. If Franco downloads audits regularly, he can find a timeframe and produce a report in 15 minutes, allowing administrators to pinpoint exactly who has been through the door and when.
Franco is training his assistant, Court Shirley, to help him out. "That's especially remarkable, considering Manny had only started using personal computers the April before,” Manley reports. “He has found the whole process very easy and user-friendly."
Before the locks were installed, some campus employees felt that the audit trail capabilities were too intrusive. One of the primary objectors, a department chair, later became a believer when he needed to know who was coming and going through a particular door, Manley reports. "It helped him solve a problem he could not have solved otherwise."
IR Security & Safety’s computer-managed (CM) standalone locking products provide features traditionally offered in online, networked systems. The locks, access trim, and offline hard-wired controllers that manage strikes and magnets can all be programmed with user-friendly software from a laptop or PDA, regardless of what credential system is used. New users, access points and access privileges can be entered into the system in seconds. The standalone, battery-operated locks provide greater than 80,000 uses or two to three years of battery life.
Newark Unified is using proximity cards that double as employee badges. Every employee must have a card. Students at the high school and middle school also use identification cards. Classrooms are configured with either pass-through or toggle locks, and teachers can decide how they want their classroom lock programmed.
As new buildings are constructed, the district will continue installing the CM locks as their standard.
About Newark Unified School District
Newark is located in the Silicon Valley on the east side of the San Francisco Bay.
Newark Unified School District has 8 elementary schools, 1 middle school and 1 high school. There is also an Adult School as well as an Ohlone College campus, which houses the Center for Career Transition, whose purpose is to provide the public with full job search and career assistance.
About IR Security & Safety’s Electronic Access Control Division
Since 1969, IR Security & Safety’s Electronic Access Control Division (EACD) has provided premium electronic access control solutions, including electromagnetic locks, monitoring consoles, electromechanical locks and strikes, electrical and electronic exit devices, power supplies and controllers to security professionals and their customers. Leading brands such as Recognition Systems, Schlage, “Locknetics on Board” and Von Duprin comprise the Electronic Access Control Division of IR Security and Safety, which serves an international clientele from its headquarters in Forestville, Conn. Phone is 866-322-1237. The IR website is www.irco.com.
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