Gibbons finished setting up Verkada Pass last December, replacing what was previously used by the school, the Avigilon Alta Open app, formerly known as Open Path. The change has enabled the school to benefit even more in terms of efficiency, financially, and security.
Verkada Pass replaced Open Path because of how well it integrates Gibbons’ new camera system that was upgraded over last summer while keeping the door access system and the fobs under one system.
“Hopefully (Verkada Pass) has a very similar feel to what Open Path was for the actual user of a student or a teacher using a door. It was way more user-friendly on the back side for setting up schedules, options that you can actually do with them and uploading data to it,” Director of Facilities, Mr. Curatolo, explained.
“It’s similar on the overall financial side, but it saves us a lot of steps and lost data, any time you transfer data from one system to another, it loses some integrity of stuff and then we have a lot more issues with it,” he added.
A downside, Curatolo explained, was that students don’t like the idea of having to switch over to a new app.
“But the greater good is that this is more encapsulating to what we’re doing and it also helps integrate the cameras to the fobs, and it’s able to kind of identify issues better,” he said.
“Students are just irritated that they have to do one more thing, and it’s really a lot. But it’s not hard. An un-tech savvy person like myself was like click, click, click, done,” Curatolo explained.
Curatolo explained some of the hassles that came with Open Path.
“Another problem with Open Path was, if you got a new phone, I had to personally reset your account. I had to send you an email in order for you to get it updated on your new phone. Now I don’t have to do that. You are able to do it yourself when your phone updates. It’s just more integrated,” he says.
Curatolo also explained how switching to Verkada has helped the school save more energy.
“Instead of all the hallway lights going 24/7, there’s only like one every six lights that are on, and if a teacher forgot to close a classroom door or turn off classroom lights, it will automatically shut down those lights. It saves a lot of electricity. And then when the first person comes in in the morning and they fob in with their phone, all the lights come up,” Curatolo explained.
He also explained how Verkada has a system where if someone is not allowed to be near the school, it will not allow them to come in, and he will be notified.
“I appreciate that Mr. Bell and the board of trustees are so concerned for the safety of our students, our educators, and our families to prioritize these sort of pretty expensive upgrades for the safety and wellbeing of our school. It’s not that I think we’re an unsafe school, but I’d rather do everything we can to protect our kids.”
