California School District Protects Campuses With Cloud-Managed Access Control -- Campus Security Today

California School District Protects Campuses With Cloud-Managed Access Control

By Bob Fishtrom
September 11, 2025

Established in 1901 in the heart of Silicon Valley, the Mountain View Los Altos High School District (MVLA) serves 4,400 students across the cities of Mountain View, Los Altos, and Los Altos Hills. It houses two award-winning high school campuses commonly ranked in the top 1 percent nationally; it also hosts a continuation high school, an adult education campus, an alternative academy for arts and technology, and a nontraditional high school program held at an innovation center.

As the Director of Information Technology (IT) Services, I’ve worked in public education for over 29 years. Like many educational IT leaders, I’ve recognized the necessity for IT's involvement in access control decisions—a domain traditionally considered outside the IT purview.

The Challenge
To support convergent safety strategies across multiple campuses, I assumed the responsibility of upgrading the physical security system at MVLA. The turning point came with the repeated failures of its legacy access system, which required a hefty annual service fee of $75,000 and lacked integration with modern IT practices such as Active Directory.

School safety is more than a product conversation–it’s about real-world impact and results. With Verkada, staff and students are protected with tools that increase visibility, control, and security over critical areas.

Verkada access controls:

Secure more doors through lock integrations, which include Schlage options that support industry best practices for schools.
Centrally manage locks and all associated access events, permissions, and credentials from Command – the same platform as all hardwired doors.
Integrate with cameras, locks, intercom, visitor management, and alarm systems.
Bring multiple school sites into a cloud-based Command platform to manage with ease from a web browser or mobile device.
Empower staff with an intuitive software interface that’s easy to use.
Provides custom lockdown scenarios while still allowing first responders to access buildings.
Minimize hardware footprints by bringing Verkada access control directly to the door lock, eliminating the need for on-premise servers or databases.

Lock Integrations and Emergency Response Tools
Each school has unique classroom safety guidelines, from lock functionality to training procedures. Still, a fundamental approach remains as simple as a locked door. According to industry best practices, locks on classroom doors should meet the following safety parameters:

Outside levers should be lockable from inside the room without opening the door.
Locks on classroom doors should be able to open from outside of the room with key or credential, allowing access for administration or law enforcement.
Classroom locking devices should comply with fire, life safety, and ADA codes and requirements.
Keys or credentials should always be in the possession of teachers and staff.
Locks should have visual indicators so occupants of the room can see the status of the door (locked or unlocked).

To align with the above, Verkada supports lock integrations with Allegion Schlage, a global provider of seamless access. The integrations open the door to various emergency response capabilities, including the ability to set lockdown procedures and initiate lockdown in one tap from a mobile app, desktop, or panic button. Bob elaborates, “We've trained the administrators on how to respond to incidents from their phones and from Command on their desktop.”

Automating Door Schedules and Credential Management
Door schedules ensure only authorized individuals can enter specific areas at designated times. SMS or email alerts notify security if someone tries to enter a facility after hours, or attempts to enter a space they are not authorized to access. While I can easily change a door’s schedule in Command, there are instances where other school staff may need to override a door’s schedule manually. By double-badging on the door reader, staff can switch between access schedules without having to touch Command; they simply tap their credential against the door reader twice within a few seconds and a schedule override is placed on–-or removed from–the door.

Camera Footage for Any Door
The security team can quickly review video security footage paired with any door, speeding up investigations to a fraction of the previous time. Natively integrated with access control, over 400 Verkada cameras oversee key areas–such as campus perimeters, entries, and exits.

If a repeat offender is spotted, Person of Interest (POI) alerts notify security staff to be aware and observe. By building on automated end-to-end SCIM user management workflow, I can even assign a POI alert to an access user from their user profile. This capability is useful if an individual moves from being a permissioned access user to a POI who may be a risk across multiple locations.

While models like CF81-E Fisheye, CB61 Bullet, and CD61, CD62, CD51, D80 Dome Series cameras empower safety and security teams with ‘eyes on the ground’, Bob highlights the CH52-E Multisensor for offering four lenses in one device. It has been a cost-effective solution that eliminates the need for multiple individual cameras to cover the same area.

Guest Management and Access: Verkada Guest welcomes all types of visitors at the student services center where counseling and therapy sessions are held. The Workplace solution allows for efficient check-ins and check-outs via smartphones, bolstering convenience and safety by ensuring that all visits are digitally logged. By eliminating the need for a pen-and-paper logbook, MVLA can better protect the names and confidentiality of patients receiving care. Custom sign-in flows also include document signing, touchless check-in through a QR code, and automatic host notifications.

Through Guest, the administrative team gains valuable insights into visitor traffic to better understand and manage the flow of people. This data can then inform staffing decisions, resource allocation, and even security measures.

Intercom Calling, Receiving, and Streamlined Communications: To support safety protocols and operational needs, Verkada Intercom facilitates controlled access and streamlined communication, which is particularly crucial in areas with gated access and heightened security. Through a trial of the TD52, I’m exploring use cases for remote warehouse and delivery management.

Air Quality Monitoring in Access-Controlled MDF Closets: Only designated personnel have access to the MDF closets, which house the district’s IT infrastructure. These areas are access-controlled and monitored by air quality sensors, offering real-time alerts for unusual temperature or air quality issues. While MVLA currently does not use sensors for vape detection, the devices can also detect vape emissions.

Alarms for Door Incident Detection and Automated Response: The combination of alarms, access control, and video verification would support a multi-layered security strategy for the adult education campus. From wireless door sensors to video-verified intrusion detection, the Alarms solution makes it possible to detect, deter, and take action against incidents around the clock. A door being forced open or accessed after hours can trigger an alarm and immediate review by professional monitoring agents, who can then dispatch police for confirmed threats.

Looking Ahead
I take a holistic approach to safety that integrates access control with locks, intercoms, guest management, cameras, intercoms, sensors, and alarms. New features and security enhancements are constantly introduced through automatic software and firmware enhancements, providing the district with the latest tools for school safety. These technologies collectively improve MVLA's ability to monitor, communicate, respond, and plan for emergency situations.

This article originally appeared in the September / October 2025 issue of Campus Security Today.

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