Cedar Rapids Community School District: Unifying 32 Buildings
Cedar Rapids Community School District
Situation
As Iowa's second-largest school district, Cedar Rapids operated disparate security systems across 32 buildings. Each school had different camera brands, recording systems, and monitoring approaches, making district-wide visibility impossible.
Friction
Legacy vendor contracts complicated transition timelines. Some principals were protective of their building-specific systems. The district's procurement process required multiple approval stages, and cybersecurity concerns required extensive vetting.
What Changed
Coram provided a unified platform that could integrate with existing camera infrastructure where viable and replace aging systems where necessary. A single dashboard gave district administrators visibility across all 32 buildings for the first time.
Outcomes
- 65% improvement in monitoring efficiency
- $180,000 annual savings in system maintenance
- Single-pane visibility across all 32 buildings
- Standardized incident reporting and documentation
Implementation Notes
- 1Retained 60% of existing camera hardware
- 2Deployed through CESA purchasing cooperative
- 3Created tiered access permissions for building vs. district staff
- 4Established standardized incident classification system
What to Copy
Key takeaways you can apply to your own implementation:
- Audit existing camera infrastructure before assuming full replacement
- Use purchasing cooperatives to streamline procurement
- Build consensus with building principals through early demonstration
- Standardize policies before technology deployment
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