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By Chris Edwards
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WOODVILLE – During its regular monthly meeting on Monday evening, the Woodville ISD Board of Trustees received a presentation from the district’s technology director Jeremy Coker about the new security cameras, which were installed district-wide.
The cameras, which number 197 in total, were purchased through the district’s ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds and approved by the board in January.
The new surveillance system, which was manufactured by Panasonic under the iPro branding, is capable of many state-of-the-art features, as Coker demonstrated during his presentation.
Coker provided examples of image captures from a variety of locations throughout WISD, both indoor and outdoor. The cameras are capable of license plate recognition, and feature environmental sensors, which are capable of gauging environmental factors, such as emissions from vaping devices and THC from cannabis products.
Coker said the security overhaul was within the budgeted amount for the project and is a vast improvement from the previous camera system. Many of those cameras were broken, he said.
Another feature Coker demonstrated is AI capability. An example he provided was to search all video captures, district-wide, for red backpacks, and the search result returned a variety of captures of students sporting red backpacks.
One aspect of the backend that Coker said is still being determined is the level of access to the system. The resource officers will have access, of course, as well as campus administrators, according to WISD Superintendent Lisa Meysembourg.
All of the cameras are also network-based and can be taken down and installed in the new elementary building once it is built.
“I want to thank everyone in this room for supporting technology,” Coker said at the end of his presentation.
Conner honored
Prior to its presentations and regular agenda items, the WISD board honored Woodville Middle School science instructor Kayla Conner with its 2023 Excellence in Education award.
WISD board president Jimmy Tucker said “we are super-proud to do this,” before presenting the honor to Conner.
Conner was recently awarded the Wayne A. Reaud Excellence in Education Award from the Beaumont-based philanthropic foundation, the Beaumont Foundation of America.
Meysembourg called Conner “an excellent instructor” who “epitomizes the best in all of us.”
Parent Code of Conduct
During her regular report to the board, Meysembourg spoke about a parent code of conduct she would like to see adopted for WISD.
She said a lot of districts in the region are adopting such a measure, and it gives clear guidance on parental behavior on school property and at school functions.
Meysembourg provided an example to the board and said she would like to see it brought up for possible approval at the May board meeting.
An example from Beaumont ISD of a parent code of conduct was available, and an example of a prohibited behavior includes “[d]efamatory, offensive or derogatory comments regarding the school or school staff made publicly to others.”
Consequences for parental violation of the rules include ejection from events or outright bans from campus and school-sponsored events.
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