The Highest Quality
New Jersey school seeks best-quality technology in cameras and VMS
- By Mary Wilbur
- Nov 03, 2014
The educational community of
Garfield Public Schools (GPS)
in New Jersey believes that the
ultimate goal of each school is
to provide intellectual experiences
within the context of a
multicultural setting. This type
of environment will enable
each student to achieve their
maximum potential.
These schools know and understand the
importance of security, where each school
will assist every student in the development of
social skills and moral attitudes needed to
successfully meet the challenges of a complex,
dynamic and ever-changing world.
The district’s mission states that every
school will continue to cultivate an appreciation
of cultural and aesthetic values so that
each student can make choices indicative of a
knowledgeable and contributing member of a
democratic society. To fulfill this role, the district
is committed to creating a flexible educational
environment by addressing the individualities
and potentialities of each student.
A Focus on Security
Garfield staff has taken security at its facilities
to a higher-quality level. Dave Koptyra, director
of security at GPS, monitors and plans the
security for 5,300 students who fill 14 schools
as well as two administrative centers.
“We have a mixed security solution in
place right now,” Koptyra said. “We are moving
everything to IP network cameras and we
are building a backbone to hold all the IP
cameras we’re installing. We will have more
than 400 cameras when we’re done.”
Dr. Edward F. Izbicki Business Administrator
and the district’s board had to decide what
cameras and VMS they wanted to install.
They ultimately chose Sony cameras and the
Salient System VMS.
“Both companies came to us with a demonstration,”
Koptyra said. “The Sony cameras
are very good for our needs, and the Salient
System VMS offered us economical features
and support with the system.”
Relying on Security Expertise
James Kane, president of Security Solutions
Consulting, got involved by fulfilling all the
needs of the school district’s security contract
by having a complete suite of security services
on its NCPA 12-05 national contract. His goal
was to provide a common connection
between all services on contract to reduce
process duplication.
Garfield staff put a lot of confidence in its integrator, Kratos Public Safety & Security
Solutions, Inc. Kratos staff member, Desmond
Battiste, technical accounts manager, in
the New Jersey office, worked with the school
to bring about the best installation and the
finest equipment.
“Garfield schools are part of the National
Cooperative Purchasing Alliance, which
gives the school an opportunity to save
money in their purchases and receive the
highest quality of service with just one call,”
Battiste said.
This national co-op allows the SSC service
providers to list high quality solutions
through the use of many high-tech manufacturers.
The school contracted with Kratos
whom holds a position on Kane's national
security contract and will benefit from a full
security program that is perfect for today's
education security needs.
Battiste said that Garfield Public Schools
work through NCPA and funding by a financial
company also on the SSC contract. They
have an aggressive plan to upgrade all its
security cameras and VMS by next year, and
each school will have the latest security technology
available. Kane also works with other
districts throughout the United States, introducing
a workable deployment contract so
procurement staff can proceed as quickly as
possible and get a security install sooner,
rather than later.
“We feel we educated the customer on a
quality solution and provided them with an
opportunity to see the products in action. The
program is priced with a government discount
methodology to assure that GPS will
receive the best value for their security
upgrade,” Battiste said.
Battiste said the schools weren't happy with
its previous VMS system and selected Salient’s
system for its ease-of-use and streamlined
operating features. Koptrya pointed out that
with the selection of the Salient Systems’ software,
the district would be able to connect all
schools in the district through one platform,
bringing all the cameras and video together.
VMS Technology
Sealed the Deal
Since the VMS was key in this installation and
was changed out during the install process,
Brian Carle, director of product strategy at
Salient Systems, said that the true selling
point to the Salient VMS was the utilization of
Dynamic Resolution Scaling (DRS).
“This technology can be used with any
camera, including analog,” Carle said. “It scales
the video to the server and the display screen.
Dynamic Resolution Scaling sends only the
resolution that is necessary for the end user to
view. This requires less bandwidth and the end
user is able to scale the video to meet the necessary
specs of the infrastructure.”
Carle said that the end user still sees the
same video. In fact, along with reduced bandwidth
consumption, the VMS provides a
more responsive video.
Battiste said that the school was looking at
its investment of security over time, and finding
technology that would be as fresh tomorrow
as it is today. He said that the school knew
it needed to add cameras, especially to cover
blind spots left by using analog cameras, so
officials decided to be proactive and retrofit the
schools for additional security and safety.
So far, Garfield schools have completed the
deployment of over 100 IP-networked cameras,
and by the spring of 2015, there will be more
than 200 at the high school alone. When the
project is totally completed,
Garfield schools will
have installed more than
400 new Sony cameras.
This article originally appeared in the November 2014 issue of Security Today.