BACKGROUND

North Dorchester High School is a rural school serving the small communities of Dorchester County. The community is one of agriculture, seafood harvest, and agribusiness with some light industry North Dorchester High School is a small, close-knit, student-oriented school. It is a comprehensive high school which offers college preparatory, honors and advanced placement courses as well as, information technologies, career and vocational education programs. The school currently has approximately 540 students in grades 9-12.

CHALLENGE

Dorchester High school was determined to meet the safety and security needs of the 21st century learning environment head on, and recognized the need to do so in a way that would not only address all legal and regulatory requirements, but do so in a way that preserved an optimal learning environment for children and reflected good stewardship of taxpayer dollars and public trust—allowing the focus of the school district to remain squarely on the education and development of the community’s students.

For North Dorchester High school, the optimization and modernization of the school’s surveillance began where the surveillance projects begin: with students. Unexpected disruptions, threats to the safety and security of school populations, undiscovered accident risks and maintenance concerns can undermine authentic and productive learning—as can an excessive or obtrusive security presence. Further, budget dollars and human resources allocated disproportionately to security concerns can draw from the educational mission.

SOLUTION: Providing Cutting-Edge solutions to Modern Challenges

That careful collaboration resulted in a technological upgrade reflecting the latest in modern surveillance technology, offering benefits for students, faculty, staff, and community stakeholders. The selection of ZicomTek software and cameras positioned the school to benefit in two important ways: higher performance rooted in the company’s wellknown commitment to innovation and feature-rich hardware and software, and cost savings via the company’s consistent delivery of high-quality technology with a low total cost of ownership. Benefiting from industry leading warranties and performance guarantees, and free of the recurring licensing and maintenance costs typically found in the industry, North Dorchester High School secured top-of-the-line performance without sacrificing responsible management of taxpayer.

That careful collaboration resulted in a technological upgrade reflecting the latest in modern surveillance technology, offering benefits for students, faculty, staff, and community stakeholders. The surveillance system selected by district leaders, in partnership with Bay Country Security Inc. and ZicomTek, includes the deployment of 100 network based IP cameras and a Video Management Server and 24 Access Control (Doors) from ControlSoft across the school and administration facilities. This ensures the comprehensive coverage of indoor and outdoor district spaces through the use of ZicomTek’s network camera technology, offering clarity and resolution as high as 4MP, with Wide Dynamic Range to reduce the glare through windows, and real-time zooming capabilities of ZicomTek’s User-friendly Video Management Server System.