Mundelein High School to expand surveillance system
Police officers will be able to access Mundelein High School’s video surveillance system from their squad cars through wireless equipment the school board agreed to purchase Tuesday night.
The board voted 5-0 to spend $19,145 on five outdoor wireless access points and related equipment that will expand the school’s security system. Two trustees were absent.
The board will purchase the gear from Vernon Hills-based tech retailer CDW-G.
The equipment will let Mundelein police officers and firefighters, representatives of the Lake County emergency response team, athletic coaches and other officials access the school’s security system from the parking lot.
Special ID passwords will be needed to prevent anyone from connecting to the system, Superintendent Jody Ware said during Tuesday’s meeting.
“It’s a secure, closed system,” she said.
District 120 officials began upgrading the video surveillance system in October, replacing an older closed-circuit system. The campus now has 77 cameras inside and outside the building, Ware said.
Each of the five wireless access points to be purchased will have room for five new cameras, but the school isn’t necessarily going to fully equip all of them, Ware said.
The cameras monitor and record activity in hallways, at building entrances, in the parking lot and in other locations, officials have said.
The system allows administrators, security staff and police to view live and recorded video going back two weeks. Videos older than two weeks are erased as new images are recorded.
Studies have shown the use of video surveillance is rising at schools across the country. Privacy advocates acknowledge the security benefit of such systems but have urged educators to destroy images daily to prevent abuse.
Antioch Community, Warren Township, Vernon Hills, Libertyville and Round Lake high schools are among those in the area with such gear.
Mundelein’s new equipment could be installed by the time the 2011-12 term begins Aug. 10, Ware said.