ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County Public School leaders recently chose a company to add thousands of security cameras to local schools. Eyewitness News first reported on the plans in September.
The upgrades could cost up to $10 million, which would be in addition to an existing multimillion-dollar contract to maintain the district’s security system.
Parents told investigative reporter Karla Ray that they like the idea of additional security.
“Absolutely, any type of security for the school, I think,is great,” parent Melanie Vallillo said.
"If it's just one child, it's worth it, right?
If you save one child from death or pain, that would be worth it," mother Elisa Jenniex said.
Convergint Technology was hired as the firm for the job, which would add or upgrade 5,000 cameras at 130 campuses.
“Student safety is our No.1 priority. We want to make sure our campuses are safe and secure for all students,” OCPS chief communications officer Scott Howat said.
School leaders said current security systems aren’t keeping pace with technology advancements.
9 Investigates dug through existing bid assignments and found two other firms had been hired in 2014 for “design, installation and maintenance of the district’s enterprise-wide electronic security devices,” including closed-circuit TV security cameras and video management and related solutions. That agreement is priced at just under $5 million and doesn’t expire until 2018.
“I believe it. My computer, already, at two years old, [technology] can be outdated very quickly,” Jenniex said.
The new system could include the use of video analytics, which can help automatically detect potential threats. Some other features requested from the new vendor mirror responsibilities mentioned in the 2014 bid documents, so 9 Investigates asked why the new agreement won’t cancel out the money already being spent.
District leaders insisted the new plan won’t duplicate work.
“The purpose of this was to go out and look for an additional layer of security on top of what we have currently existing,” Howat said.
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