School board approve security cameras

Security cameras will be installed at each elementary school in the Newton Community School District, as well as the high school auxiliary parking lot.

The NCSD Board of Education voted 5-0 to accept a $149,975 bid from Walsh Doors and Security to install the new camera systems and $36,995 supplementary bid for a managed service agreement with the same company.

School board member Graham Sullivan was absent and Cody Muhs had to excuse himself from the Monday night meeting at E.J.H. Beard Administration Center.

Shane Wheeler, technology supervisor, said the school district has already completed extensive upgrades to the security cameras at Newton High School. However, the elementary schools have not received the same treatment.

“Given some of the unique layouts of some of our buildings and the age of those buildings, a standard camera layout is not probably adequate,” Wheeler said. “… So we started this process quite a long time ago.”

Wheeler said three companies inspected the school district properties, but only two submitted bids: Walsh Doors and Security and Communication Innovators.

The latter company bid $168,973 for the camera system install at all five locations: Aurora Heights Elementary School, Emerson Hough Elementary School, Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, Woodrow Wilson Elementary School and what is known as the “band parking lot” at the high school.

Communication Innovators also submitted a $32,160 supplementary bid for district-wide camera management. Altogether, the company bid $201,133 to complete the project, which was higher than the Walsh’s total bid of $186,970.

“Walsh provided a more complete design and solution for the district at a lower price,” Wheeler said in an to the school board. “The camera management service plan is better suited for our needs going forward. The Walsh agreement includes monitoring, training, all parts and labor on all cameras in the district.”

Regardless of the bidder, the security camera system install and managed service agreement would be paid for using Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) fund dollars.

This type of funding stream is utilized solely for school infrastructure needs or school district property tax relief, according to the Iowa Department of Education. Construction, repairs, demolitions, remodels and purchases relating to the improvement of school buildings fall under that category.

Wheeler told the school board he would rather not go into detail about the number of cameras that will be added to the elementary schools and parking lot, as well as locations. School district documents indicate a fair amount of cameras and different types will be installed on the affected properties.

The managed service agreement allows Walsh to monitor equipment and bare the responsibility of repairs and part replacement. Wheeler clarified when prompted by school board member Donna Cook that the company is not watching activity recorded by the cameras.

“They know when it’s offline. So when it’s offline it’s their job to come out and check it, and their job to get it back online and up and running,” Wheeler said. “… We get overnight service because we’ll be a premium partner with them. And it’s their cost to fix it.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com