Moving From Mechanic to Electric
Hemet Unified School District upgrades mechanical locks
Hemet Unified School District
serves more than 21,000 students
across 28 school campuses.
Located in Southern
California, HUSD is one of
the largest geographical districts in California,
covering over 650 square miles including
the communities of Hemet, Anza, Idyllwild,
Aguanga and Winchester. HUSD staffs
approximately 1,040 certified employees,
1,130 classified employees and 1,100 substitute
employees.
Challenge
In 2017, the HUSD sought to upgrade existing
mechanical locks to electronic locks.
With more than 5,000 doors across 28 campuses
districtwide, the transition was sure to
be a significant undertaking.
HUSD Director of Security Christopher
Wynn said the District elected to upgrade to
electronic access control due to many benefits,
including the capability to quickly lock
down doors remotely in an emergency. Additionally,
the elimination of associated costs
and time-consuming tasks commonly found
with tracking and replacing traditional mechanical
keys would benefit the District.
Wynn was previously a system integrator
and has a great deal of knowledge about access
control products, particularly those that
are best suited for the unique needs of education.
He and his team, consisting of Locksmiths
Mark Sanchez and Steve Richardson,
recommended installing SALTO Systems
electronic locks, accessories and ProAccess
SPACE management software to manage the
system. The system will be utilized by more
than 4,000 regular users once it is rolled out
to all sites.
Solution
Wynn and his team have begun installing a
combination of SALTO’s Wireless Real-Time
Access Control System and SALTO Virtual
Network (SVN) solutions. Wynn said they
appreciated the capability of initially mixing
both online and offline solutions as they begin
the installation with the option of expanding
the system to be fully online in the future.
SALTO’s SVN allows stand-alone locks
to read, receive and write information via an
encrypted and secure data-on-card system
that utilizes the capabilities of RFID read/
write technology. With SVN, all access data
is stored on and distributed by its operating
smartcard (or other RFID credential). When
presenting a smartcard to an offline standalone
door, not only does this control access
rights to that door but, thanks to two-way
communication, the door also writes data
like blacklist information or battery status
back to the smartcard. The smartcard then
transmits this information back to the server
via online wall readers that are able to update
and receive information from the cards anytime
and anywhere in the building.
HUSD integrated the use of SALTO Padlocks
and GEO Cylinders into the overall access
control system. Within schools, there are
a variety of special areas that benefit from
the use of versatile electronic locking solutions
where previously it was only possible
to use a mechanical solution. Wynn said in
a school environment like HUSD, this could
include securing classroom cabinets or carts
that carry computer notebooks from classroom
to classroom.
Wynn, Sanchez and Richardson will
manage the system via SALTO ProAccess
SPACE management software. District site
administrators will be authorized to issue
replacement credentials and conduct cardholder
programming.
One of the most important features of
the new SALTO system, “is the ability to
immediately lock all doors with the lockdown
feature in ProAccess SPACE,” Wynn
said. “We will use the lockdown procedures
in all of our lockdown drills. The lockdown
feature will be integrated into our crisis management
plan and will enhance our ability to
secure our school sites faster and more efficiently
than using mechanical keys.”
Wynn said they are also working to integrate
SALTO locks with Telecenter U, a software
program that controls HUSD’s public
address, phones and bell systems.
“Teachers or staff members will be able
to enter a code into a phone and the system
will trigger a relay to the SALTO controller
which will initiate a lockdown of the online
locks,” Wynn said.
According to Wynn, the district is currently
in the process of installing Telecenter
U software at all school sites.
Wynn said HUSD’s transition to
SALTO’s electronic access control system
has gone smoothly and the end result will
be a technologically-advanced solution that
offers students and staff enhanced security.
“SALTO’s electronic access control solution
for school districts can be hardwired,
wireless or stand-alone—and the cost to deploy
the system is far less than other access
control systems,” Wynn said. “The ability to
lock down doors remotely makes the system
ideal for school districts; the locks are visually
appealing and do not draw negative attention
to themselves and
there are a variety of credentials
to choose from.”
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2018 issue of Security Today.