Morristown-Beard School

• Private College Prep School - Grades 6 to 12
• Located on 22 acres

Site Description

Morristown Beard School is a private college preparatory day school for grades 6 through 12. It was established in 1971 by the merger of two historic and well-respected schools: the Morristown School, school for young men founded in 1891 on the Whippany Road campus; and Miss Beard’s School, a school for young women also founded in 1891 in Orange, New Jersey. The school is located on 22 acres of rolling lawns and shady trees. The campus is situated approximately two miles from the center of Morristown and within 30 miles of New York City. A nonprofit corporation, the school is governed by a 22- member board of Trustees, which meets five times a year. Morristown Beard School is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and approved by the New Jersey Department of Education. It is affiliated with the National Association of Independent Schools, the Educational Records Bureau, the Council for the Advancement of Supportment of Education, the School Consortium of New Jersey, the National Association of Principals of Schools for Girls, and the National Association of College Admissions Counselors.

The Situation

School Administrators felt it was necessary to install an access control system to protect students and faculty, as well as the high value equipment and assets on campus. The system had to be ruggedly reliable, unobtrusive, and intelligent enough to automatically lock and unlock doors, recognizing holidays and vacations periods, without adding to administrative workload. It was decided that access through 64 doors, within several campus buildings, had to be controlled. Cost consideration regarding management and maintenance of the system was also of prime concern.

The Keri Solution

The Keri Systems, PXL-250, access control system was selected as a solution that best satisfied the school’s main security and operational objectives. The readers selected were Keri’s MS-series 3000 and 5000 proximity readers. The MS series readers are constructed of a high impact polycarbonate material, encapsulated in solid epoxy. The reader will withstand extreme weather and temperature variations. The readers are waterproof and rugged enough to survive severe vandalism. In addition, the thin-line construction makes them unobtrusive and hardly noticeable when mounted on a door mullion or standard light switch box. The Keri models, MS 3000/5000 proximity readers, will sense and read a card (key) when the card is placed in close proximity to the reader—any where from three to eight inches of the reader face, depending on the reader style selected. There is no direct contact necessary between the reader and card in order to unlock the door. Therefore, wear of the reader or card is not a function of usage. Because of this fact, reader maintenance costs are very low and significantly lower than the costs required maintaining slot readers or readers requiring card contact. In addition, the readers carry a lifetime warranty against wear due to normal usage. System operation costs are very low as well. Once programmed, the day to day operation of the system is automatic. Doors can be unlocked and locked automatically. Special features ensure that a door will not automatically unlock during secured hours and if no one arrives to occupy the secured area. For example, if a door is scheduled to open at 8:00am on any given day and no one shows up to occupy the room or building at that time and day, the door will remain locked. Door operation can be governed by time schedules so that users can only gain access to specific doors at specific times—depending on the authority privileges assigned to the user. The number of authority privileges available to assign to users is infinite for all practical purposes. System administrative duties are minimized and so are operational costs. Connectivity costs were also minimized utilizing the school’s existing fiber optic backbone. Because the school had a local area network (LAN), the Keri network connecting a central PC (running the Doors software) to the various door controllers located in several remote buildings was accomplished using the LAN. Therefore, costs for running new dedicated cable, or as an alternative, costs for telephone modem communication, were avoided.

Results

Officials at the Morristown Beard School feel that their security needs have been met. The system installed is efficient and cost effective. The system will be expanded as the campus expands or other security needs arise.