Roselle Catholic High School in Roselle, New Jersey. Roselle, like many educational facilities across the country, found itself relying on outdated technology and the inability to communicate from classrooms to a main office or centralized security location – a safety risk in any educational institution.

The high school was awarded a grant through the state of New Jersey to implement security improvements. The school chose an Aiphone IX Series Peer-to-Peer IP Video Intercom System, which included two master stations, two video door stations, and 43 audio sub stations to connect each of its classrooms.

The system allows the school’s front office staff to respond to visitor access requests at the main entrance, while also making visual confirmation before admitting anyone inside the building. To handle access requests, the school is equipped with two touchscreen master stations, one located at the front office and the other in the principal’s office.

Two of the features of the communication system for the school is it allows teachers to communicate directly to the front office, and quickly allows staff to initiate a lockdown to the entire school in case of an emergency. The Aiphone IX Series can send a pre-recorded notification building-wide, alerting students and staff of any threats and providing instructions on what to do next. The school has the ability to create its own pre-recorded messages for emergencies, which can play continuously in a variety of scenarios, including fire drills, emergency evacuations or lockdowns.

“With the previous system being unable to talk back to the main office, teachers were left in a bad spot if they ever had to reach an administrator for an emergency,” said Principal Tom Berrios. “With these improvements, the teachers now feel more secure with what’s going on in the building and they have an easier way to communicate.”