ELUSIVE COST-EFFECTIVE CLASSROOM SECURITY
Kewaskum School District is home to ~1800 students in scenic Kewaskum, Wisconsin. For years Kewaskum School’s Facilities Services Director, Doug Franzen, had been looking for a solution to add an additional layer of security to their classrooms as well as reduce the inefficiencies and complexity caused by their brass key access control system. “Lost keys, getting keys returned and the overall complexity of trying to give so many people different levels of access with brass keys was virtually impossible and very frustrating,” Franzen recalled. He continued, “We really needed a cost-effective solution that allowed us to secure our classrooms and get rid of the complexity of brass keys.” Unfortunately, electronic access control solutions to replace brass keys that Franzen had looked at previously were too expensive and too IT involved.
A NEW TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM
In August of 2023, Gappa Security Solutions (Waupun, WI) introduced Doug and his team to Proxess®. By late September, Doug tasked Carol Pok, Kewaskum School’s Building Systems Coordinator, with implementing a product trial of eight (8) Proxess CX (cylindrical) locks managed by LoxIQ with both Proxess Mobile Keys and Proxess DESFire EV2 physical credentials. The purpose of the trial was to get feedback from the School Safety Committee on the new Proxess system and the classroom security upgrade it provides. “I’m glad we had Gappa completing the installation and Proxess assisting with the system set up on the first few locks and I am very glad to do the product trial first because I didn’t want to jump too quickly into something and then risk failure,” Pok said.
THE BENEFITS OF PROXESS
“Having certain users who are very mobile, in and out of offices and classrooms and in and out of multiple school buildings supporting children throughout the day, we wanted to see how this worked for them,” Pok explained. With Proxess in place, gone were the days of issuing multiple brass keys for several buildings to one teacher. “Now we issue a single Proxess credential that gives each staff member access to specific offices and classrooms throughout multiple school buildings,” Pok recalled. The teachers appreciated the new functionality Proxess offered them. One middle school teacher mentioned how Proxess has solved the disruption of students coming and going from the classroom. With Proxess in place, a teacher can unlock her door from across the room with her mobile phone, allowing the returning student into the classroom with minimal disruption to instruction time.
FROM PILOT TO FULL DEPLOYMENT
By January 2024, Kewaskum Schools was ordering more Proxess locks to put on more classroom doors. “The new process of issuing Proxess access is very easy. In fact, after the training we received from Gappa on the initial installation, I am installing the Proxess locks myself,” Pok said. Proxess has completely transformed the process of granting building access to new employees as well. Now instead of trying to manage complicated brass key access, the school secretary receives an email with the details of a new teacher including which classroom the new teacher will be utilizing and issues a single credential to only the doors needed for access. Pok concluded, “I will tell any school who is interested in learning more about Proxess to come and see it action for yourself. It’s not hard and has proven to be very easy and manageable.”