HIALEAH GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - Mater Academy Charter School in Hialeah Gardens is taking security to the next level with an app.
Called CONCIERGEpad, the app’s purpose is to screen every guest and parent picking up or dropping off a student at the school.
The security app is on an iPad at each entrance to campus and is downloaded on all staff phones and computers.
“The parent or guardian would be responsible for taking a picture of their face,” said Rene Perez, the app’s developer. “Scanning their license in front of the iPad camera.”
The app also runs a thorough background check on each person walking in and out of the school.
“It performs a national sex offender database check, and that is up to date,” said Perez. “It can also reconcile against a ‘persona non grata’ list, so if somebody is not allowed to be in the building, period, it can also reconcile a list like that.”
Perez said what sets the app apart from other security measures is how quickly it can communicate with the entire staff during an emergency.
“As part of this process, the entire staff gets a silent message that there’s an emergency type of scenario that’s taking place,” he said. “There’s also a visual that takes place on the iPad where the iPad turns red.”
The instant communication was an important feature for Mater Academy, especially after the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
“We go back to the Santa Fe shootings, and then now in our backyard,” said Assistant Principal Beatriz Morris. “Safety is in every administrator’s mind. They’re our children. We spend most of the day with them.”
Following the Parkland massacre, schools across the region have been surveying every aspect of security on campus.
For Mater Academy, communication is a top priority.
“I think their database and their screening of individuals who walk into your building, the alerts for the administration, makes us, I think, sleep a little better at night,” said Morris.
Since the app’s start in 2014, CONCIERGEpad has been installed in about 250 schools nationwide starting at $1,200.
“I think parents should be happy to know that this is being done, and here at Mater Academy, we’re doing our best to make sure their children are safe,” said Morris.
Several schools in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, specifically charter and private schools, will be launching CONCIERGEpad for the first time this upcoming school year as part of their new security protocols.
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