Helping Schools with Cybersecurity, Video Analytics, Visitor Management and More
The Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS) continues to bring the brightest minds together in a concerted effort to provide schools with the knowledge, resources, and support to make informed decisions along the path to creating safer and more secure schools.
The newly-released seventh edition of the PASS school security guidelines includes information, tools, and insight to implement a tiered approach to securing and enhancing the safety of K-12 school environments, based on nationwide best practices and the most effective use of resources available. Key technology updates include revisions to the video surveillance access control, and communication components. It also introduces a new digital infrastructure layer that addresses cybersecurity and data protection/privacy.
Not only are these guidelines a helpful tool for integrators to explain solutions to school security customers who are not as familiar with security technology options, they are also a way to help promote our industry and the value of technology solutions to create safer schools. Members of the PASS Advisory Board recently held a town hall to outline these changes.
Access Control Updates
Because the access control component is at the core K-12 school security, PASS continues to focus on building out this area with more guidance and resources. In addition to recommending that classroom doors remain “closed and locked at all times,” the seventh edition contains a new door lock matrix that provides guidance on which locks are suitable and recommended for the K-12 environment, as well as several options based on different schools’ needs.
“This access control component is the central nervous system for a school district,” explained HID Global’s Michael Garcia, who serves as the company’s K-12 end-user business manager and serves on the PASS Advisory Board. “We want to be able to command, contain, control, and communicate…to have visualization, actionable intelligence, and situational awareness within the school and the entire school district.”
The access control component includes recommendations for creating a secure visitor entry area (also referred to as secure vestibule entrances), and PASS provides a whitepaper on this topic that focuses on the importance of having a single point of entry, as well as a case for deploying a visitor management system.
PASS recommends that all exterior doors be locked and monitored for closed and locked status, and that there is clear wayfinding signage directing visitors from anywhere on the campus to the appropriate visitor entrance, including informational signage at the door explaining the proper procedure for gaining access to the building.
Ideally, visitors at the exterior of the building should be able to use indirect communication with staff through an intercom or phone system before gaining access to any portion of the building. A video doorbell system at the exterior visitor entrance door also enables staff to interact with a visitor with both audio and video, allowing visual identification.
Unifying Visitor Management
ASSA ABLOY K-12 National Security Program Manager Guy Grace, who serves as the Chair of the PASS Advisory Board, pointed out during the town hall that the guidelines provide best practices for unifying critically important visitor management systems.
“These systems provide a streamlined and efficient way to monitor and control the flow of visitors,” he explained. “By requiring visitors to check in, provide identification, and obtain a visitor badge, the school can easily identify anyone on campus and quickly respond to potential security threats. Moreover, these systems create a comprehensive record of visitors, enabling the school to track and manage who enters and exits the facility.”
PASS recommends that every school have a visitor badging system. While these systems can range from basic to advanced, at a minimum, visitor badges should be issued to all visiting individuals who are not staff or students. PASS further recommends the use of an Electronic Visitor Management System (EVMS), which streamlines the visitor sign-in process and tracks specific visitor data such as who is entering the school, when they enter, the reason for the visit, and who they are visiting.
“Many systems record photos of the visitors or scan driver’s licenses to help confirm the presenter’s identity while also checking for persons who should not be permitted to enter for various reasons, such as restraining orders or parental rights disputes,” Grace explained. “This usually involves checking the ID against National Sex Offender Registries, but can also involve criminal background checks.”
Video Surveillance Updates
The evolution of video surveillance technology, coupled with closer integration with access control and visitor management, prompted the PASS advisors to include information on enhanced camera placement, recommended field of views, and classroom camera recommendations in the seventh edition. In addition, guidance on analytics was added.
“We have tried to develop the guidelines to help the [school] administrator who is sitting behind a desk and is unsure what to do, what steps to take, and what to focus on and prioritize,” said Jim Crumbley, President and CEO of Risk Response Team, a PASS Advisory Board member. “We established operational requirements for each camera that involves detection, observation, recognition, and identification.”
Another important addition to the guidelines is classroom cameras. While video has become a vital component of school safety protocols, Crumbley pointed out debate over privacy, including the use, accessibility, and oversight of recorded material, and whether audio recording is included when it comes to classroom cameras.
![“NIST is the gold standard for cybersecurity, and we took that [framework] and modified it to be easy to understand.” - Will Knehr, i-PRO Americas](https://img.securityinfowatch.com/files/base/cygnus/siw/image/2025/05/6826453d6fb84fe705bedc9b-willknehrtopazenhance3.png?auto=format,compress&fit=max&q=45&w=250&width=250 "“NIST is the gold standard for cybersecurity, and we took that [framework] and modified it to be easy to understand.” - Will Knehr, i-PRO Americas")
“When I was approached by [PASS Chair] Chuck Wilson and [PASS Volunteer of the Year] Scott Lord to do a digital infrastructure layer, we initially focused on cybersecurity, and then we moved it out to digital hygiene in general,” Knehr explained. “[The guidelines can help] not only a person with advanced cybersecurity knowledge, but even those just getting started in cyber.”
This is vital, as K-12 institutions have increasingly become prime targets for hackers. “That's because these institutions typically have a lower level of cybersecurity, and they tend to pay out for ransomware,” Knehr explained.
The PASS cyber guidelines align with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommendations, but with language that can be understood by those who may be starting without a ton of prior knowledge.
“NIST is the gold standard for cybersecurity, and we took that [framework] and modified it to be easy to understand,” Knehr said. “We [simplified] a lot of the verbiage, and then we also added examples of what it looks like in a school setting.”
