BRASS KEYS: 24/7/365 UNDOCUMENTED ACCESS CONTROL
“We would have substitute teachers show up to work and already have keys to the building,” lamented Ronnie Carroll, Facilities Director for Huntington Local School District just outside of Chillicothe, Ohio. For Ronnie, attempting to manage the HLSD brass key access control system had become an exercise in futility. “It’s unreal how much work there is in managing brass keys.” Volunteer coaches, substitute teachers, and even spouses of teachers had full access to the facilities as key duplication ran rampant throughout the schools. “Our buildings were not secure and anyone who had a brass key had access to the buildings including my office. We needed to make a major change,” recalled Pete Ruby, Superintendent for HLSD.
TRADITIONAL SOLUTIONS DISAPPOINTED
Determined to find a way to eliminate the daily use of brass keys forever, school officials had attempted to extend their previous exterior on-line electronic access control system to the interior doors using a traditional WIFI connected wireless lock system. “The IT costs associated with traditional WIFI connected locks and their inconsistent performance was incredibly frustrating,” recalled HLSD IT coordinator Zach Brownfield. Pivoting away from traditional wireless locks, HLSD investigated putting traditional on-line electronic access control on all interior doors which came in at a cost close to $1.3M. “There was obviously no way we could afford that, so we kept looking,” Brownfield stated.
PROXESS® CHANGES EVERYTHING
HLSD was introduced to Proxess through a local security provider. “They asked us to help them get rid of brass keys by putting electronic access control on every interior door. The only affordable option was Proxess,” recalled Tim Stegner, sales consultant for Integrated Protection Services, a systems integrator in Ohio and Proxess Dealer Partner. Securing a school security grant, the HLSD facilities team installed 280+ Proxess locks themselves in two weeks, saving over $1M versus traditional on-line electronic access control and bringing full audit capability to all their doors. “We upgraded our existing on-line electronic access control to Proxess and we now have accountability, not just on exterior doors, but on all doors throughout the school. Our school security has completely changed with Proxess,” Ruby shared.
NO MORE BRASS KEYS - ACCOUNTABILITY REIGNS HSLD
Teachers like the accountability that Proxess brings. Every Proxess door keeps a full audit of every transaction allowing HSLD officials to establish a new level of accountability. “Teachers spend their own money on supplies, so knowing not all teachers have access to all classrooms and closets is a good thing,” Brownfield said. Recently, a staff member was missing some gift cards with concern that they may have been stolen. Once reported, school officials were able to pull all audit logs of the main office door, the staff member’s office door and interior storage door, providing a full audit log of activity in the Proxess locks in that particular time frame as part of their investigation. “With Proxess, we easily limit teacher access to their classroom door, closet door and the classroom door next to them. We also set up a User Access Schedule for each teacher for 6am to 9:30pm, something we could never do with our Brass Key system, so they know they won’t have access before or after hours,” Mr. Carroll explained. By installing Proxess on every interior door, HLSD brought all the key aspects of electronic access control to ALL doors, eliminated the daily use of brass keys by teachers and staff, avoided IT-related costs and still had plenty of money in the budget to replace the HVAC system school-wide in the summer of 2024.