OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Two organizations with the Jewish Community Campus have partnered with SafeDefend, a security system designed to use several communication methods to alert security, faculty and students in seconds when a crisis is occurring.
SafeDefend systems have been installed in schools and businesses across the country.
“We view ourselves as insurance,” SafeDefend President Jeff Green said. “That everybody needs it, but hopefully no one will ever have to use it and that's really what we are. We hope our system is never used but just being able to go to work, send your kids to schools, feeling better, and my child is protected. That's really what we want.”
Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy teachers and staff trained last week with equipment and items that are provided with the security system.
SafeDefend, based in Gardner, Kansas, said the security system is a way to provide staff with the tools needed to manage a crisis until help arrives.
JCC security officials said it’s been about a year-long research process to enhance security efforts even more.
“We want to be in a good position where we're ahead of those threats and make our staff and employees and all of our students as safe as possible here on the campus, through improvements like this,” said Chuck Green, director of community wide security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City.
K-8 Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy principal, Jessica Kyanka-Maggart, was a part of Friday’s training. She said it adds an extra layer of safety for students, teachers and staff.
“You know every year, there are things that you don't anticipate or things that you didn't learn in any amount of schooling or books that you read. And you learn it and you embrace it and you move forward and you try to apply what needs to be applied,” Kyanka-Maggart said. “It's just a part of life and it's just like we have to adapt to new technology and incorporating technology into the classroom and staying ahead of teaching kids to be prepared for jobs that aren't even existing yet, we also have to stay current with what's going on in the world and keeping our kids safe.”
Green said the SafeDefend system will move JCC forward in its security efforts.
