Your “good news and bad news”:  Students and staff will be returning to classroom soon.  For you, and for them, it’s a mixed blessing.

Most teachers and students want to get back to real-life learning as soon as possible, many parents are eager to relinquish their new “teachers assistant” role. But on everybody’s mind: “How will we keep everyone safe?”  That question can be a real headache four administrators, IT professionals and others charged with keeping people and systems safe.

As a starting point, everyone is required to wear a mask indoors – but how can you ensure everyone is masked when entering the building, without posting teachers or support staff at every entrance?

And how do you monitor for fevers, one of the most common COVID-19 symptoms?

We also have a range of scanners that can detect people with elevated temperatures. Install those at your school entrances and you can be alerted when someone is spiking a fever. There are three types of fever detection scanners:

• Handheld devices, similar to radar guns, that are useful in playground and open-space settings.
• Face scanners that can be mounted on walls or as standalone units.
• Wrist scanners. These can be used in entryways; some schools are also placing them outside classrooms as a double-check if students are rotating classes.

Many of the scanners also have options to check for mask wearing and to verbally remind people to cover mouth and nose in order to enter the premises. For many schools, an important feature is that the system uses facial detection software; it does not use facial recognition, which enables student and staff privacy to be maintained.

Some schools are taking it even further: You can link sensors on your inner and exterior doors to the scanners. When an elevated temperature is detected, the doors will lock, preventing the student from entering the building. Other students can then be directed to other doors.

Depending on your protocols, and the model selected, a message can be sent to staff designated for ensuring students’ parents are contacted in the event they need to be sent home from school sick. These messages can be sent via email or SMS /tasks messaging.

At the same time, the student question can be kept safely apart from others, until arrangements can be made for the student to be taken home.

Yes, there will be times when you’ll isolate someone with flu, but there is no harm in containing that, too.

By using the right combination of scanners, sensors and cameras, you can help ensure people wear their masks and remain home when sick.

If you’d like more information on how to better safeguards your school or campus, please feel free to contact us at [email protected] or (416) 429-0796 or 1.877.238.9944 (Toll Free), even if you’re only looking for a knowledgeable shoulder on which to bounce some ideas.