Facial recognition reaches more US schools with Singlewire deployments

Biometric systems for school safety and security continue to gain ground in the U.S., with more rollouts unveiled and a new director appointed by ROC. But the recent reprimand issued by a UK regulator shows the fine line that must be walked for compliance in school settings.

Schools in the township of Sparta, New Jersey, and the Madison Metropolitan School District in Wisconsin have each selected visitor management system with facial recognition from Singlewire Software.

Visitor Aware, which includes facial recognition and ID scanning, collects each visitor’s name, ID document, date of birth, address and sex, along with a facial photo. It then checks the data against the National Sex Offenders Registry, most wanted lists from Interpol and the FBI, as well as the FBI’s lists of wanted hijackers, terrorists, and its “Seeking Information” watchlist, TAPinto Sparta reports. The system does not perform checks for criminal history, outstanding warrants, or immigration databases.

The system also prints badges for those allowed to enter. Return visitors can enter with just a photo.

Madison-based Singlewire says neighboring school districts Monona-Grove, Waunakee, Oregon, and McFarland have also implemented the facial recognition system.

The company claims fewer false positives than its competitors, due to regular algorithm updates.

New ROC schools leader

ROC has appointed Dr. Adam Cheeseman as its director of school and community safety.

Cheeseman was named 2024 West Virginia Superintendent of the Year, capping eight years of service as superintendent of Doddridge County, WV Schools.

With ROC, he will collaborate with school districts, law enforcement, and community organizations in the U.S. on the deployment of the company’s public safety solutions based on facial recognition and AI video analytics. ROC’s flagship threat detection platform, Watch, also includes weapon detection, visitor management and perimeter control to help security teams practice proactive incident prevention, the announcement says.

The new role with ROC will allow Cheeseman to continue “working to ensure the protection of our most valuable assets – our children, educators, parents, and support staff – across the country.”

ROC Watch is already in use at 54 public schools in West Virginia.

Use human resources for compliant deployment

The key role of school systems’ data protection officers (DPOs) in deploying facial recognition in a way that satisfies compliance requirements is highlighted by Schools Week. The article is a response to the UK’s ICO warning an Essex school that it failed to meet its obligations.

In that case, the school was found to have failed to carry out a data protection impact assessment, or collected consent correctly.

If a DPO had been involved at the outset of the project, Schools Week argues, the chances are much higher that the school’s data protection obligations would have been met.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  data protection  |  facial recognition  |  ROC  |  schools  |  Singlewire  |  video surveillance