Verkada Reviews: Security for School Safety
Linda Cheng
Integrated Marketing Manager
For schools, physical safety is a prerequisite to a conducive learning environment. Consequently, education leaders are leveraging Verkada’s adaptive technology to protect students and staff, facilitate emergency response, and ensure a safe return to campus.
By integrating video security, access control, and environmental monitoring onto one cloud-based platform, administrators are able to manage all security events in one place. With a centralized view of all health and safety incidents—including vape detection, forced door entries, and unusual after-hours activity—schools take a proactive role in enhancing campus safety.
In these reviews, learn how leaders in education use Verkada to protect students and staff across their campuses.
Verkada Reviews for School Safety
Lockdown Campus in Seconds“In an emergency situation, we can secure the building in seconds rather than minutes. I can lock our exterior doors almost instantly through my phone or computer, which is a level of control we didn’t have before.”
Alex Wiltz, Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police, Greenfield Community College Read Full Verkada Review >
Integrated Video Security and Access Control“I can create custom grids for staff to view a large number of live cameras at once. For access control, we have doors with intercom buttons that the students press when they’re locked out. Our front office has access to a grid displaying all doors with the intercom installed; if a student is locked out and presses the button, our office staff has a live view to immediately verify their identity.”
Dennis Haynie, Executive Director of Technology, Andrews Independent School District Read Full Verkada Review >
10x Faster Incident Response“We retrieve footage ten times faster than we used to. Additionally, our staff is empowered to resolve incidents independently without needing help from the IT team… The speed in which we can take action is critical to facilitating school safety. We’re confident in Verkada’s system and our staff’s ability to use it, which gives us the peace of mind to act quickly in the event of an emergency.”
Joe Gill, Technical Assistant, Townsend School District Read Full Verkada Review >
10-Minute Onboarding, No Training Required“The software is so easy to use that we haven’t heard from staff members since deploying it. When you hear nothing, that’s the raving review. It takes 10 minutes to onboard new users, and from there the system is intuitive enough for them to use without assistance or training… Our staff members have been able to learn and use the system on their own with no additional training.”
Michael Zummack, Manager of Facilities and Information Technology, Sun West School Division Read Full Verkada Review >
Emergency Planning with Data-Driven Insights“When we last did fire drills, I used Verkada’s heat map technology and multi-camera playback to analyze how to manage traffic through different corridors, stairways and exits. The ability to pinpoint where blockages exist, then develop solutions as a precaution, makes all the difference for any high-risk situation.”
David Jeapes, Head Teacher, Mayfield School of Portsmouth Read Full Verkada Review >
Proactive Alerts to Reduce Security Overhead“With our old systems, we always had to have someone sitting down in front of the screen of a physical machine. We no longer need to monitor the camera system anymore. Verkada sends me a text or email when something important happens. That’s it.”
Brad Breaux, Chief Information Officer, South Louisiana Community College Read Full Verkada Review >
Evolving Feature Set with Automatic Updates“We knew we wanted a cloud-based solution, and Verkada was easier to use and had more advanced analytics than any other offering. I demoed Verkada and another solution to our campus police, and they agreed the search capabilities for Verkada were much more powerful and intuitive—it was no contest. People and Vehicle analytics came with an automatic software update without us having to lift a finger or spend a penny. No other solution on the market makes improvements and upgrades this easy.”
Matthew Camara, Assistant Director of Technical Services, Pasadena City College Read Full Verkada Review >
Instant Access via Web or Mobile“The desktop experience and app are both incredibly easy to use. I’m able to do everything, end-to-end, from wherever I am: activate the cameras, assign permissions, find footage, archive clips, or share feeds with outside folks. I’m certain that any member of a team could come in and find what they need in seconds, no matter their level of technical skill. Simplicity is key in the adoption of a new tool, which is what made the value of Verkada immediately clear to me and my team.”
Andy Williams, Head of Facilities and Services, Bath Spa University Read Full Verkada Review >
Simple to Use and Install“After using Verkada for thirty minutes, you feel like you’ve been using it for years. There isn’t much of a learning curve. We handled 90 percent of the installation ourselves—myself and five or six guys from our department. We got on ladders for a few days, and within two weeks, we installed upwards of 500 cameras inside the buildings.”
Dan Layton, Chief Technology Officer, Zionsville Community Schools Read Full Verkada Review >
No Single Point of Failure “Verkada looked at an old problem in a new way. It’s revolutionary in that it provides exactly what you need and helps you achieve exactly what you’re trying to do – all in a way that’s easy and cost-effective. Each camera is essentially its own NVR – losing one camera won’t impact losing footage to an entire wing of a building.”
Dean Farar, Chief Information Officer, Yuma Union School District Read Full Verkada Review >
Share and Embed Live Videos “With Verkada, in the case of an incident, you can provide a link to the local sheriff’s department. There’s a live stream, so they can monitor what’s going on. The ability to give them instant access is a huge weight off our shoulders… But there are more creative ways to use the cameras and the software. For instance, we’re thinking about embedding and streaming basketball and volleyball games to our school’s Facebook page.”
David Rodriguez, Director of Information Technology, Kiona-Benton City School District Read Full Verkada Review >
Receive Person of Interest Alerts “Verkada ticked all the boxes for us: cloud-based, reliable, remotely accessible on a mobile app, and it has a notification system. Being able to generate a text alert when someone is on-site who shouldn’t be, and have contact tracing ability, helps keep our schools safe.”
Bruce Johnson, IT Director, Regional School Unit 13 Read Full Verkada Review >
Faster Investigations with People Analytics“These cameras are really clear and crisp, and you can see people and have a lot more features in terms of searchability and accessibility. For example, you could say, ‘I want to know in the past 24 hours, I think there’s someone suspicious outside the building, and I heard he had on a red shirt.’ So I could search, ‘male, red shirt, past 24 hours,’ and it would pull up all images from all cameras that match that.”
Jenny Rothboeck, Principal, East Grand Middle School Read Full Verkada Review >
To learn more about schools use Verkada to enhance campus safety, check out our K-12 Education Solution Overview and our Higher Education Solution Overview docs.
