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Innovations in School Security: AI-Driven Solutions for Safer Schools
01:02:50
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- [00:02]
John Brucato
You're listening to ASBO International's School Business Insider. I'm your host, John Brucato. Each week on School Business Insider, I sit down with school business officials and industry experts from around the world to share their stories and explore the topics that matter most to you. Find out what it means to be a school business official and get your insider pass on all things school business. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of School Business Insider. Today, we're tackling one of the most pressing issues in education today. School security. Ensuring the safety of students and staff is a top priority for every school district. And in this episode, we're going to explore the latest trends in school security and the best practices for keeping our schools safe. Joining us are two experts in the field, Dr. Brian Graham, Superintendent of schools at Grand Island Central High School, located in New York, and Brett Handel, Vice President of sales at ZeroEyes. Grand Island Central School District has been at the forefront of utilizing innovative technology to enhance school security, including the use of ZeroEyes for weapon identification. Together, Dr. Graham and Brett will share their experiences, insights, and strategies for leveraging technology to create safer school environments. Brian and Brett, welcome to the podcast. I'm so happy to have you today.
- [01:26]
Dr. Brian Graham
Hi, John, how are you?
- [01:27]
Brett Handel
Thanks for having us, Sean.
- [01:28]
Dr. Brian Graham
Great.
- [01:29]
John Brucato
Yeah, absolutely. And to have a fellow podcaster, Brian.
- [01:32]
Dr. Brian Graham
It'S just truly an honor, honestly, for your listeners, it's really. I just have to pat you on the back and put you on a pedestal. When I decided to begin hosting a podcast here in the Western New York area, you were the leader. You had started this. I was. I'm such a nerd. I was paying attention to your podcast ahead of time, and you were so gracious. I gave you a call and you walked me through how you got started, and now I have two. I have two podcasts.
- [02:03]
John Brucato
Yeah, I saw that. I mean, you're a busy guy.
- [02:05]
Dr. Brian Graham
That's right. But it's such a great way to tell a story in a manner that is engaging and digs deep into the topics that you want to focus on. So I appreciate everything you're doing, and I've learned a tremendous amount from you.
- [02:21]
John Brucato
Well, you're too kind, and it's just so great to hear you week after week. I am a subscriber, by the way, so it's nice to hear of my Western New York roots and what's going on out there. Well, it's great to have both of you on. So for those who may not be familiar with you, maybe you could just take a moment to introduce yourself and really, you know, what brought you here today and your interest in school security. So, Brian, why don't we start with you?
- [02:44]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, John. So I am the superintendent of the Grand Island Central school District. I'm starting my ninth year, John.
- [02:52]
John Brucato
Nine years already years.
- [02:53]
Dr. Brian Graham
Can you imagine that? I think I'm just ahead of the curve of the national average. So I'm doing. I'm doing okay. And I love it here. It's a beautiful place. Grand island is located north of the city of Buffalo and south of Niagara Falls. We're right on the Niagara River. The river goes around our island and then heads to the Niagara Falls. So if you can imagine that, if your listeners can imagine that, it's just a great, great place. It's a beautiful place to live and work. Prior to that, I was an assistant superintendent in West Seneca. I was a principal for 10 years in West Seneca, and I was a special education teacher for 16 years. So I've been in the game for a long time. My wife and I have four children, and we spread them out. So our goal was to always have somebody who could cut the grass for us. And that goal sounds great when you first start to have a family. But, you know, now we're still paying college loans and, yeah, there's a lot.
- [03:48]
John Brucato
Of strings attached to that.
- [03:49]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yeah, there's no doubt. So my youngest son is at the University of Akron studying sports analytics. And so I'm still in the game. I'm still here rocking and rolling and having a great time being a superintendent and leading such a great school district. So I appreciate letting me share that with your audience.
- [04:08]
John Brucato
Absolutely. And, you know, coincidentally, grand island is my alma mater and where I grew up. And I remember I used to love telling people who weren't aware of grand island that I did grow up on an island, but not. It's not as flashy as the Caribbean or anything like that island, nonetheless.
- [04:22]
Dr. Brian Graham
Right? For sure. For sure. So, obviously, did you go to all the schools here or did you.
- [04:28]
John Brucato
I did. I started at Kegabine and went to the middle and high school. It was a phenomenal, phenomenal experience.
- [04:34]
Dr. Brian Graham
Oh, great. So this. This conversation will be really meaningful to you as well. As a former. Former student. I love it.
- [04:41]
John Brucato
Absolutely. And, Brett, why don't you tell our audience a little bit about yourself?
- [04:44]
Brett Handel
Yeah, John, thanks for having me. My name is Brett Handel. I'm with a company called Zero Eyes. I'm the vice president of sales over there. So I work with all our education, government, and commercial clients and they basically look at our technology to go on to their existing security cameras where our AI will detect guns and it is human verified to dispatch alerts to schools in the event there's ever a threat. So I was the 35th employee with the organization. I've been here for just over three years now, and I've been in Technology solutions for over 10 years. So I happen to be one of the only civilians that works at ZeroEyes, actually. So I take a lot of pride in that. I do not have any sort of law enforcement or military background. That said, this was sort of my calling when I found the opportunity to work with ZeroEyes a few years ago. And in terms of myself, you know, I'm from Boston, lived here my whole life.
- [05:40]
Dr. Brian Graham
Oh, John, did you do that?
- [05:42]
Brett Handel
Yes. I'm a Boston guy.
- [05:45]
Dr. Brian Graham
We're going to start talking about.
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John Brucato
You're going to wrap this episode up quickly.
- [05:48]
Brett Handel
Yeah, it will be a short episode. So no. So I live in Boston, right in the heart of the city. And, you know, this job sort of brings me on the road about 200 days a year. So I'm sort of like a traveling nomad, but I'm here with my wife. I have a bunch of family here, and then I have some. Some family down in New Jersey as well and over in Connecticut. New York as well, too. So I got to spend some good time in upstate New York, actually during my college days when I was playing baseball and sort of playing at this semi pro level in upstate New York. But I was not. I was on the Finger Lakes, I was over in Geneva, so I got a good experience of upstate New York there. They actually opened me up to Wegmans. So that was a good introduction to some good sandwiches there.
- [06:26]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yes, yes. And future sponsor, John of Europe.
- [06:29]
John Brucato
Yeah, yeah, I get Wegmans on here. One thing I miss from moving out of New York is certainly a Wegman. Brett. I was actually just in Boston, one of my favorite cities. In all in all seriousness, I was just in Boston at TD Garden for a concert and I haven't been to Boston in a few years. And it's just amazing how much the. The city just changes and develops year after year. But one of my favorite cities is just a great place to be.
- [06:52]
Brett Handel
Yep. I actually live right above the Boston Garden and just moved over to North End where Little Italy is. But my office space that I rent, I'm literally staring at the Garden as we speak right now. Right on Canal. Not bad, not bad.
- [07:04]
John Brucato
So I really wanted to bring both of you on Today, as I said in my introduction, you're really at the forefront of school security. And I'm really interested to share the developments of what has happened from the technology standpoint in recent years and how to better position yourself as a school district to be more secure, to allow for that thoughtful and education with students and making sure that they're feeling safe and secure along with staff. So before we get into really the technical pieces of it, can you tell me how school security has changed in recent years and really why it's more critical now than it has been in years past?
- [07:37]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yeah, yeah, I would. I'd like to jump in on that for sure. I think that. And I've been at this game for a long time and obviously school security is always at the forefront of any educational leader, teacher, parent and student, and particularly the board of education. And pre Covid, our board of education here in grand island had a strong focus through our strategic planning initiative to consider the mental health and behavioral wellness of children. That ended up being our number one goal as a strategic plan Pre Covid. So maybe six years ago, very little ahead of the curve, we were already seeing an uptick in children struggling with their anxiety and depression and mental wellness well prior to Covid. And as a result of building that into our strategic plan, we've added social workers and counselors and psychologists just like most schools schools have done. But then you start thinking about school security, seeing what's happening across the United States with the terrible tragedies that have occurred through mass shootings and so forth. So of course, through capital project improvements, we've added window film security, we've added secure entrances so that people are sort of trapped when they're dropping off something for their child. We've added systems like Raptor. And beyond those systems, we now have a family support services program for families. We allow private counseling institutions to live rent free in our school district so children don't have to leave school, don't have to go off island to get their counseling and additional support. That's above and beyond school. It happens all within the school. So pre Covid, we were already thinking along those lines and building in different infrastructures and supports. And I think that's true for all schools. Right. But then something happened here in Buffalo and, you know, it really brought home and elevated my focus on what else we could be doing and tapping into the trends and technologies that are out there. And that, of course, I'm speaking about the mass shooting in the inner city of Buffalo at our local Topps community grocery store where somebody traveled from Binghamton to Buffalo and conducted a mass shooting, killing 10 of our citizens and injuring three or four. And that happened on May 14, and it was 2022. And I, along with many other superintendents, began talking about what else could we be doing? How can we research other ways to keep us saf? And John, I think the thing that stands out the most in school safety and when you see these horrible videos from Uvalde and Tops and other places around the United States that oftentimes the person that wants to injure others is brandishing a weapon in the parking lot. And I started to think that there must be something else that can help us. So I started doing some research and I researched different companies and kind of fell in love with zeroeyes. And I know we'll talk about that later. So the other thing I want to mention, just because I know other superintendents think about these things, I talked about pre Covid and now post Covid, obviously we're seeing an increase, right, in children's needs in the area of mental health and wellness. And with that said, I was talking to Brett earlier today. We now have filters and systems that are constantly looking for key words and terms that will alert teachers and administrators and other district office specialists when those key terms are activated on our Chromebooks or iPads or desktop computers. And we use a lightspeed filtering system. And quite honestly, John, I was telling Brett earlier today we had over 100 alerts last year, particularly in the middle school environment where children are searching terms that are scary, right, that involve self harm or harming others or engaging in activities that are illegal. And that's not to say that we have a epidemic here in grand island, but I think as young people are moving from elementary to middle school and they're thinking about more adult things, these filters and systems help keep us safe because I'll get an alert. I can be at dinner, you know, with my family and get an alert, and then I can immediately check in on that family and make sure that that child has the support. So, and to your point, right, there are new technologies and new systems out there, and when you put them all together in a toolbox, you have a lot of different tools, everything from increasing the counseling services and the supports for families to technologies that all keep us safe, and then the hardening of schools, right, the window film and the secure entrances. So all those things are so important and they all matter. But then this other technology just blew me away.
- [13:10]
John Brucato
Well, it sounds like you're obviously accomplishing a lot at Grand Island. And just to kind of follow up to all of the work that you've implemented at grand island, how are you balancing a welcoming environment and a safe environment? Those two can kind of go against each other if you're trying to harden a target. But we are schools. We are ideally the welcoming pinnacle in the community. How do you strike that balance?
- [13:32]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yeah. Oh, I love that so much. You know, everything that I just said doesn't mean a hill of beans unless you have a positive relationship with your community, with your families, and with your students. We talk a lot. And our entire superintendent conference days in August and September this year were focused on building resilience, focused on developing opportunities for children to engage and feel joy in school, feel valued, feeling, feel positively connected. So to your question, we can't ensure safety without those important elements. So when, if you were a visitor to our school, you would have to put your New York state license into a little box, and it'll scan and make sure that it's doing a little background check on you, which is just, you know, making sure you're not a pedophile. Right. And that's Raptor, and that's how Raptor started its business model. And we incorporated that right away, like many schools have done. So in one sense, it's maybe, you know, to your point, right. May feel a little unwelcoming, but immediately you feel safe. You feel like, wow, this school is really doing something to keep kids safe. So once you get that, you know, license, your tag is printed with your picture, you can put that on and walk to the, you know, the place as a visitor in the school, and everybody knows you've been checked in properly. So it's that balance, right? Striking the balance of putting in processes and procedures that keep people safe, but also being welcoming and making sure that person who's engaging with that visitor is making you feel as welcomed as possible.
- [15:13]
John Brucato
So I'd like to hear more about the artificial intelligence arm of what ZeroEyes is doing. We've had that really seems to be top of mind for a lot of school administrators is AI. It's kind of coming at us in all different directions. And here's one today, using it for weapon identification. So, Brett, can you tell me really, how you're utilizing AI to be a preventative measure for any kind of incident?
- [15:36]
Brett Handel
Yeah, absolutely. Happy to get into that. So the way we're using AI is to stop threats at the first sight of a firearm, not after a shot's been fired. So you asked about trends earlier, and one of the trends is schools becoming more proactive with their safety and security measures. So that's the whole concept of ZeroEyes is using that computer vision artificial intelligence algorithm to identify a gun. And what's most important is the verification. So we have a human in the loop verification. Anytime that there's a detection of a firearm, someone in our 247 operations center is verifying that it's a true positive and then we are dispatching that information through to the school. So something that was really important to the schools that I've worked with, not just in New York state, but all across the country, is privacy. Not just FERPA compliance, but not collecting biometric data as well. Anytime you're working in K12 schools, you're working now there's minors that are underneath the cameras. So you have to really take everything into consideration. And that's what Zero Eyes did here. The way we're using AI, it's in a very non intrusive way where the company, as in zero, as we're not watching a live video or camera stream, the only time we can actually see inside your cameras is when our AI detects an object it thinks is a firearm. So again, no biometric data, no bias towards race, gender, ethnicity, behavior. We're really doing one thing and one thing exceptionally well and that's detecting guns and notifying those who are most important in terms of, at the school district for first responders or school personnel so they can make an effective decision within a split second and giving them that actionable intel and those that precious time back.
- [17:17]
Dr. Brian Graham
That was really wonderfully stated by Brett. And I just want to, I want to make sure that when, that I share with your listeners. When we did our research and chose ZeroEyes, there were two main factors. One, it's, it's, it's really well crafted artificial intelligence that looks only for the brandished gun. But two, it's human verified. And so when an alert hits, their team will zoom in, look at that object and determine whether or not it's an umbrella, a lacrosse stick or a brandished gun. And that's when the real supports fold right into the systems and practices that we're now incorporating. So I just wanted to touch on that as well.
- [18:04]
John Brucato
And can you tell me a little bit more about the relationship between ZeroEyes and maybe a school district? So you've brushed on how the technology works, but talk me through the logistics. I mean, a lot of what we do is automated now and a lot of that is centered around cost cutting. You obviously have taken a different approach. You have real people verifying whether a weapon identified is true or not. What happens? Does a school administrator get alert the same time you do? Do you wait until you get a positive read and then you contact the school, talk me through theoretically what that would look like?
- [18:38]
Brett Handel
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm happy you asked, John. So I'll sort of bring you through the workflow of the technology and then answer your question afterwards because it will make more sense then. But the way it works is and connecting to the cameras, that's just the tip of the spear. What I talked about before and getting the detection from there. As soon as the gun or the perceived firearm is detected and verified by a human in the loop, they click the dispatch button and there's a call that's being made to our primary point of contact at the school and also the local law enforcement agency or the 911 dispatch center that covers the jurisdiction of that camera. So you're getting calls, you're having conversations with people in real time and concurrently you're getting alerts sent to your mobile app, to the desktop app and via text message that show critical information such as the last known position, how much time has elapsed since they were underneath each camera view, what they look like, what type of gun it is, anything that's going to again help cut down response time. And to answer your question, in terms of what we're doing with the schools, other than just the detection and the workflow there, it's all about the training and what comes with it after the fact. We get extremely hands on with every school we work with. We run under the operation that now you could have the best technology in the world, but what good is it if the people using it aren't effective? And that's why I've got to work with, you know, so closely with grand island and a lot of the schools in upstate New York is we get really hands on with the training, doing active shooter trainings or doing live demonstrations of detections. We had a roundtable at grand island this year with all the administration to go through best practices, how they want to be alerted for different types of threats, whether it's a lethal or non lethal weapon and so on. So it's. That's another trend in the industry I think that I'm seeing is not just AI itself, but training for any type of technology that schools are making investments in. You know, what comes with it. Are we just getting something that's packaged up here or are we getting support after the fact? So we're really good at supporting our clients after the fact and working with them there. Falling in line with their standard operating procedures is big. And then making them a. Most of their security technology investments in the past. You know, many schools are facing budget deficits right now where they had a lot of money to work with after Covid, because there was a lot of COVID relief funds out there. And they have these contract rules coming up where they're saying, oh, man, what. What am I going to have to cut? What do I keep here? And keeping that balance of not just security technologies, but all the other products you have going on, whether it's, you know, Chromebooks or MacBooks for the kids, hiring new personnel and every other technology that comes along with it. There's sort of been this digital transformation over the past three or four years, and ZeroEyes is really looking to be a part of that digital transformation. We're all about making the most of those existing security technology investments, hence going on their cameras and being able to leverage technology that they've already purchased in the past.
- [21:32]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yeah, that. That is a really good point, that you're turning our existing cameras into a proactive security measure as opposed to just the way we use them now or use them before, which is reactive. Right. We're reacting to something that may have happened on the campus. Then we go back and look at the film, try to make a determination. This is the exact opposite. It flips it. Right. And so, John, when. When that alert comes, I get the phone call. I'm the first on the list that gets the call. If I don't pick up, then I have a second person that's in the timeline of being contacted. And while I'm getting the call, text messages are hitting my phone at the same time and hitting everybody else that's on the list. The custodian, the principal, the district office team. So the alerts are coming in fast and furious. And so it allows me to be the communication point with ZeroEyes, while ZeroEyes is already communicating with law enforcement in seconds. And I just. I can't stress that enough. It is so well designed and so efficient and effective that it's something to behold.
- [22:50]
John Brucato
So since implementing this technology, Brian, what impact have you seen at your school district on school safety and just really the overall culture?
- [22:59]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yeah, I like that a lot. So at first, and Brett could tell you the same, I was very cautious about communicating, and I think that your listeners may feel the same way. Right. Why would we tell the whole community that we have this tool because, you know, an evildoer might try to circumvent the tool in one way, shape or form. So I was very, very cautious and somewhat, you know, just the board and a key number of people knew about it. But as time goes on and you begin to see what's happening more so around the United States with gun violence and you begin to process everything about that and more. I flipped the script and I'm becoming more voiceless and more informative with our community about the tool. And I think that's helped our community. In fact, a good colleague of mine, Cheryl Cardone, was just telling me a couple days ago that some of her friends who don't have children in the school district anymore were very surprised to learn about this software. Were. And they were comforted. But it was another reminder that if you're a district considering technology like this, it will be a strategic plan for you to process whether or not you share about it or you don't. But I'm more now in alignment with the more information I can get out there. I think it'll keep people and become a deterrent and keep people away. So it's taken me a bit to get there, but now I'm, I'm fully committed to that.
- [24:41]
John Brucato
Well, sounds like the words out there. I mean, if you have people contacting you without kids in the community, if you know the words out there.
- [24:47]
Dr. Brian Graham
I know, I know. And then the last couple days the local news affiliates here have been doing stories about it. So it's getting out there more and more. And you know, it's, it's good because I do think it's a deterrent, just like having a school resource officer is a deterrent. Right, right. But you still, you know, you still are extra cautious about the details and.
- [25:08]
John Brucato
You know, I'd like to also go back to something you had mentioned earlier specific to the use of technology and you were mentioning that some of your middle schoolers, you had 100 plus notifications that certain terms were being used that would throw up a red flag. How is grand island training students and staff to effectively use technology? Whether it's something as high level as Zero Eyes as a preventative measure or right down into Google searches, How are you ensuring that those best practices are being followed?
- [25:34]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yeah, I love, love, love that question because it's been a journey of mine since being a middle school principal so many years ago. I was a middle school principal for seven years and again, if you do the math, seven years plus three as an assistant sue plus nine now as a Superintendent, this is turning into an age old problem. How young people interact with social media and how sometimes parents, some parents, not all parents, are oblivious to what's happening. You know, I don't know what it was like when you grew up, John, but my kids had a computer in the living room and the screen faced outward so that when mom and dad, my wife and I walked by, we saw everything. Yep, sounds familiar. Right? And we were, we were talking about stranger danger then. Right. And this was just a simple MacBook, you know, type of computer for the family. Now that has shrunk and we're giving children computers in their pockets. And I'll never forget being a middle school principal and we had a situation. There was an app called Kik K I K and a young person was communicating with a stranger, and the stranger convinced the young person to do something that the young person should not have done. But once that young person did something like that, then the stranger wanted more of those inappropriate communications and pictures. And I learned so much about that, the psychology around that and how young people can get pulled into some poor decision making. And so I think ultimately we are so committed to educating our parents and to letting them know that these tools can be. Can be very helpful, but they can be very harmful. So to that end, we're using our librarian with our students to make sure that we have digital citizenship curriculum so that children fully comprehend some of the benefits and the dangers. We bring in experts from the Missing Children Network, and they speak very bluntly to children about some of the dangers. And it just goes on and on. Right. But I will say there seems to be a trend where very young children, ages 8 or 9 are coming to school with smartwatches and iPhones. And that's. That's a little bit of alarming for me. And it makes us understand that we need to be vigilant in the communications and the parent education aspect of it.
- [28:17]
John Brucato
So let's talk about more trends in school security. What are those key trends that you're seeing related to school security that the listener should be aware of?
- [28:26]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I would say I am overjoyed with what Raptor has evolved into. I think everybody can envision a Raptor system. As I shared before you put your New York state license in, it does a background check to check if you're a pedophile. That was the essence of Raptor, and most school districts incorporated that or something like that. Right. But beyond that, Raptor has evolved into an app where I can lock down the school with a Single push of my finger on my app and allow, alert all of our administrators, alert all of our schools into what's happening. And it's also used in conjunction with your student data management system, whether it's infinite campus or PowerSchool or eSchool. And it's maintaining a roster that's live every day. A child leaves, child comes back. All that's fully integrated. So now we have tools that we can communicate instantly with parents too, which is amazing. And the most powerful thing is the reunification aspect of Raptor. In the event, let's say you had a gas leak and you had to, you know, move your children to an alternate, alternate location, Raptor goes with you. It's easy to communicate with families and other administrators. So I'm, you know, when you talk about trends and technologies, very impressed with how Raptor has grown from one idea into many others that are supporting school safety and keeping our children and staff safe. And I think, Brad, did ZeroEyes just do some kind of partnership with them?
- [30:09]
Brett Handel
Yep, we have a. We have a formal partnership with Raptor and many other technologies out there, not just in the visitor management space. And that's what I was going to say is sort of a trend, I think, integrations and making it as easy for any end user, any client, whether it's a school, a commercial entity, a government entity, to not just leverage their existing technologies, but combine everything into one sort of, not to sound cliche, but a single pane of glass, if you would. So you know that you always have Raptor, you always have a zero eyes, or you always have a light speed, something running in the background, where if there's no work that needs to come through or there's something of great importance, you're going to be able to switch from one app to the other in sort of a seamless way where it makes it quick, it makes it efficient, and it makes your life easier, ultimately.
- [30:57]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yeah, for sure. And then I know I've touched on it before, but the filters that we use to capture keystrokes and to make sure kids are communicating correctly and properly is also very powerful. And I'm going to share one other new technology that grand island has adopted. It's through Khan Academy. And Khan Academy has always been free. All of their courses have always been free since 2010. To any child, any school that wanted to use it, it's very, very powerful. But what they've just added is an artificial intelligence tutor. And that tutor now is available to all of our high school students and 100 middle school students. Every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So it doesn't matter if you're an advanced placement calculus or that you're, you know, working on just getting your Regents credit through algebra. You have access now to an artificial intelligence tutor that's not going to give you the correct answer, but coach you and use Socratic cognitive coaching to help you. But what's really important, John, is there's a safety piece built into that, too. Khan Migo is the artificial intelligence tutor. It's not only a tutor for students, but it's an assistant to the teacher. So, John, if you were my algebra teacher and I was your student, and I typed into conmigo something alarming, conmigo tells you, the teacher, what I'm talking about. So it's a tutor that's going to help kids become proficient and maybe masterful in their content knowledge. But it's also designed to make sure that it's alerting the proper people if I'm communicating in a way that's dangerous to myself or others. And that is pretty powerful. And a new technology trend that I think is going to take off in this area pretty quickly.
- [32:56]
John Brucato
You're using a lot of different technologies. Can you talk to me about the integration of all of these? Are you finding that companies are starting to play a little bit nicer in the sandbox and willing to integrate with each other? Because for a long time, each individual app, each individual solution was very much siloed. Are you seeing a trend away from that?
- [33:14]
Dr. Brian Graham
Excellent question. So what I am noticing, there are tools like Clever that allows companies like Raptor, Think Tech and others to have their databases updated every night, relatively easy without a lot of effort on both sides, the company and the school. So I think that that has helped companies be more integrated, I guess, with the different tools. And it makes us. It makes it easier on us so that our IT department isn't spending days and days and weeks making sure the rosters are all set and making sure these applications can work effectively across the different schools in your district. So I think that has helped for sure. And then, you know, working with Brett and understanding how proactive his company is and making partnerships with other companies, companies, I think the example of Raptor makes that seem very exciting. And then I think, honestly, OpenAI and the chat GPT type systems, there's Claude, there's Gemini, there's Perplexity, all these people that's so new that they, that they want educators to be using those systems. But remember, they all have to be. Was it ed law 2d compliant. So they have to play in the sandbox properly with the New York State Education Department to be eligible for use in our schools. But once, once they've ensured that privacy, I am seeing more of those silos break down.
- [34:56]
John Brucato
And Brett, what about you? I mean, you're the one trying to integrate your technologies possibly with others. Are you seeing a similar thing, similar trend where companies are starting to open the doors a little bit to integrate?
- [35:09]
Brett Handel
Yeah, I think a lot of technologies are learning that you have to be able to adapt to your environment and there's never going to be a one size fits all solution out there. But that's something I know we're doing from the start. We're an open API platform and what that enables you to do is build integration sort of on an as needed basis with different technologies. And that's there's a fine balance between building any sort of integration and still maintaining the highest security levels and certifications for your technology. You don't want to ever lose or get away from who you are or where you're coming from. So that being said, we like to adapt and build integrations with as many technologies as we can while not getting away from our mission. And what we're doing so well already, and that's important for any business model I think, is being able to integrate and adapt to your clients needs and what they're using already and coming up with a solution that makes sense for them.
- [36:08]
Dr. Brian Graham
And John, I wanted to jump in with these AI tools that are so powerful and I think are transforming education public and private, faster than anybody realized. I happen to be on the external advisory board for the University at Buffalo's new National Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Exceptional Education. I was invited a couple years ago to be on their board. It's really remarkable. They have a $20 million grant that they've secured from the National Science foundation and the Institute for Education Sciences. They're building an artificial intelligence screening tool to screen children as young as three years old for speech and language deficits. Here's the problem that they're trying to solve. There are 3.4 million children in the United States that have individualized education plans for speech. There are 60 to 61,000 practices practitioners available to provide therapy to 3.4 million children. So they have identified a significant gap in the practitioners and the need. And so they've been awarded this grant. And the first thing is screening. And this is kind of counterintuitive. They want to screen every child. Right. Because right now if you have an infant or a toddler. Moms and dads get pretty comfortable understanding children, but don't realize sometimes that their speech is actually delayed until maybe a pediatrician picks up on it or a grandparent picks up on it. Right. So the whole process of identifying young children to make them eligible for early intervention is kind of ad hoc. So what AI, this AI institute out of the University of Buffalo set to do is create this screening tool that every three year old in daycares and childcare centers and universal pre kindergartens and head starts will all be screened. Right. And then it'll be a warm handoff to a speech therapist. So a speech therapist will determine whether or not that person has a need for services. Now we're identifying that need earlier so that when that child is 10, they don't have a significant deficit in their ability to communicate through English and language arts. That's number one. Now the second piece, and I think this is where these new technologies and trends are going beyond security and safety is they're set to build an artificial intelligence orchestrating tool. And that orchestrating tool is literally going to be a teaching assistant to the speech therapist. It'll be in some way, shape or form, with permission of course, from parents recording the sessions. Right now speech therapists can only do, it's almost negligible if they're one on one with children anymore. It's one on two, one on three, one on four, one on five at the most. Right. And so this AI orchestrating tool will record all of that session, audio and visual. And this is huge. Give the therapist an individual pathway for each child in that session. Right. So it'll help differentiate and personalize the therapy. Of course the speech therapist could do that too, but it's going to share with that person the most evidence based, research based solutions, which is awesome. And then it's going to do the writing for the therapist. So there's so much work done by therapists to do progress reporting and maintain the IEPs and Medicaid reporting. Right. If the AI assistant can take that load away, then the therapist can see more children and lower that gap. So I just share that with you as one cool new technology, not necessarily safety related, but how AI is going to be fully embedded in what we do every day in public and private education. And the last thing I'll share is there's a cool little tuum. I'm kind of an early adopter of technology and there's a cool.
- [40:21]
John Brucato
I couldn't tell.
- [40:22]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yeah, I have this thing called a rabbit. So if you, if someone can Google rabbit R1, right. It's an orange little box, it's tinier than a cell phone, but you can talk to it and it'll talk back to you. It's very cool. But let me tell you, the translation tools built in, I think it has a hundred languages. So you know how ENL has blown up in our schools. We have so many kids coming to us from different languages from all over the world. AI tools like this will help young people learn the language of English and be maintain their growth and journey in education. So it's security, it's, it's education, it's speech and language. And you tie this all together and we can focus on our mission, right, of maintaining safety while helping kids grow on their own personal pathway. And that's why I get excited at my age, with all my experience working with children when I see these new technologies, I just get super excited and look for opportunities to incorporate them into our schools.
- [41:30]
John Brucato
Well, I have to tell you, I wish this was a three hour episode because I have so many follow up questions to everything you just laid out. Maybe I can bring you back on to. Yeah, I'd love to deep dive into the intervention piece. That is incredible and really is going to close that gap, as you said, for students that are struggling with speech. But unfortunately I can't do that to our listeners. Are going to tune out too soon.
- [41:52]
Dr. Brian Graham
I think Brett already tuned out.
- [41:54]
John Brucato
Actually, he's looking out the window.
- [41:57]
Brett Handel
I'm right here. That's good.
- [42:00]
John Brucato
But I do want to follow up, Ryan, because you know our primary audience here in school, Business Insider, our school business officials, and I want to just ask you, how are you doing all this? I mean all from an infrastructure standpoint, from a budgetary, financial standpoint. Where did you start with all this? And what was kind of your timeline with implementing your physical security, your AI security, lightspeed, all of everything that you've talked about today. I'm sure people's heads are spinning, but can you chunk it out for us? How did you attack this?
- [42:31]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yeah. Oh, I love that. Yeah, for sure. So I did say that I'm an early adopter of technology. So a lot of my free time is spent honestly on following different blogs, different websites, understanding the new trends that are coming. I'm constantly sharing those trends with my cabinet. They may not like that anymore. Actually. You can ask questions.
- [42:53]
John Brucato
No more new ideas.
- [42:55]
Dr. Brian Graham
Ruby Harris. But you know, I, because I just, when I went here, here, I'm a little off tangent. Apple, you can create your personal Voice in Apple, it takes 15 minutes. You read sentences. But if you and I had a stroke and we had personal voice activated on our phones, I can text to you and you will hear the text in my voice, right? That's already like, I get so excited when I see systems and tools that are truly designed for the social good, right? And when you. When you can incorporate those things and you get passionate about that and then so. So sometimes I do move too quickly, and that is something I have to pump the brakes for. Sure. And my good friends Ruby and Cheryl and Bob would tell you the same. But when it's so important to the infrastructure and mission of what we do, then it's a different story. You know, I always tell. I always tell the story. I had a mentor from Alden Central Schools, Tom Lyons. And my job was to work with children with severe physical and developmental disabilities. And I would go to Tom and I'd say, tom, there is a switch. I have a child who cannot pick up any objects or move his or her hand voluntarily, but there's a switch, and it uses infrared technology. And my child, Michael has random firings of his. In of his pinky finger. It just randomly moves. And I said, tom, if I could get that infrared beam of light switch to position itself next to his pinky finger, and when his pinky finger fires involuntarily, it'll click the mouse on the computer for him, right? So when you see how technology can change the world for a child who's trapped in their body and now can actually involuntarily and then eventually voluntarily click a mouse on a computer, it is transformative, right? And so when I do a lot of talking about artificial intelligence at superintendent forums nationally and locally, I start the story there and I share with them why technology has changed the lives of children with the most vulnerable, severe needs. And I show them examples of that, right? And then I blend, I go right into how AI is the same thing for kids. Artificial intelligence will help children who have dyslexia to fully comprehend what they are trying to learn. And then you take it to the next level of security and school safety. And this company, like ZeroEyes and others that are out there, it. It is just something that is so embedded in what we do that we have to make room to make it happen. And sometimes it's. It's a priority, right? Some things rise right to the top, like zero eyes. Like the issue here in Buffalo when tops happened. And now I can go to sleep at night, right? Because I know 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I have an AI tool that's keeping and keeping us safe and then allowing us to focus on that mission of inspiring our students to reach their greatest potential. So, yeah, so I'm. I get a little jazzed about it, John, but I. And sometimes I do have pump the brakes, honestly. I know that. And that's where I need good people like you and Ruby and others and Bob Merkel now to say, hey, hey, hey, hey, buddy. What are you doing? So then I do appreciate that a lot.
- [46:38]
John Brucato
Yeah. I have to say, you make me want to be a technology director again. You're doing so much over.
- [46:42]
Dr. Brian Graham
That's right. How you started.
- [46:44]
John Brucato
Yeah, those are my roots. Yeah.
- [46:46]
Dr. Brian Graham
And listen for our listeners. I met you maybe eight years ago in Chicago at the Forecast five Analytics. So here. John, you're a nerd, like I am.
- [46:58]
John Brucato
I think we just 1000 go to.
- [47:00]
Dr. Brian Graham
A support group and acknowledge that. As I go to Chicago, I leave here, I'm by myself. And who do I meet? You and Ruby and Jim Frigiletti. Right. And I'm like, hey, there. There is a little faction here from Western New York in Chicago, Illinois, learning about how to use analytics to support the learning and growth of your district, financially and academically. And I was so enthralled. I mean, I dove right into that. But it was you that I met. We were playing pool, and I'm like, all right, this is. This is a guy that is really. And what was your role? You were a business official.
- [47:36]
John Brucato
I was a business. Yeah, I was at. I was maybe a two years into my role as school business official. Yeah.
- [47:41]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yeah. So very impressive. And, you know, so I do. I do get excited, maybe overly so, but I am this excited because it makes too much sense. And Brett, working with Brett and what he has done to help transform safety and security here at Grand Island, I'm sure if people want to reach out, I'd be happy to talk to people. Brett would be happy to talk to people to help them visualize how they can make this happen in their district.
- [48:10]
John Brucato
That's great. So let's pivot a little bit. I want to talk a little bit more to something you had mentioned prior about communication. How important is it to involve the community, parents, and students when you're making these big security decisions?
- [48:25]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yeah, for sure. Again, I shared with you, I was much more cautious, and I was definitely a little worried about letting evildoers know what we were doing. So I think in hindsight, if we were starting over, I would be Much more public about it. We'd have public sessions with board members, the entire board. Right. Actually. Well, we did anyways. But I think being much more public and having presentations really provides a level of a comfort for the community and a level of comfort for the parents. You know, sometimes. Now the biggest debate in education is school districts banning cell phones. Right. There are districts locally, here and across the United States that are making it a mission to ban them. And I think. I think when you think about this security platform and this technology, parents will feel better knowing that you have this technology, technology in play, and maybe not feel as anxious that I need to know where my child is every single second of the day. So there's going to be a balance, I think, that is struck. And part of that is about communicating and making sure that people fully comprehend these systems that we have in play. And quite honestly, I'm being very transparent. I'm learning and growing through that process in live in the lifetime, in real time. So I'm definitely pivoting more to more communication than less.
- [49:55]
Brett Handel
Yeah. And I'll try men, because I see it from, obviously, the other side that Dr. Graham sees it from, but I'm starting to see it be more consistent across the board with all verticals, with being more public about what they're doing to address these certain security concerns, in particular, specifically superintendents. What I hear from them is, hey, I have a lot of parents that are coming up to me asking me, you know, what I'm doing to not just keep their kids safe, but, you know, other family members of staff and staff members asking, hey, what are you doing to protect us? And it's a great way to come back and say, hey, we're doing this. We're being proactive by getting ahead of a threat. And that's what people want to hear. Sometimes they don't want to see something like a metal detector, something that can make you feel institutionalized or sort of be an eyesore. Having that comfort of knowing that there's something above you in the cameras, looking out for these threats, keeping you safe so you can focus on what's going on at the front of the classroom, not behind you. That's more so the message that they want to put out there and that we're seeing sort of consistent across the board now.
- [51:03]
John Brucato
Yeah, I think that peace of mind is really important. Important when doing all of this and being able to communicate it effectively to families, but also letting them know, to our earlier point, that you still have a nurturing, welcoming environment.
- [51:16]
Dr. Brian Graham
Right.
- [51:17]
John Brucato
So what are the common challenges you've seen when implementing all of these different security measures, anything from the window film and the man locks and the AI, what are those common challenges and what should school districts really kind of be aware of if they're looking to pursue something similar?
- [51:32]
Dr. Brian Graham
I love that question. I just had a conversation with our school resource officers yesterday about their ability to get in the buildings. But not just the SROs, the rest of the department.
- [51:46]
John Brucato
Right.
- [51:46]
Dr. Brian Graham
Not just the rest of the department, but the sheriffs, not just the sheriffs on grand island. We have the state police, we have the border patrol, we have parks police. Grand island has more police presence.
- [51:57]
John Brucato
The worst place to speed, you know.
- [52:01]
Dr. Brian Graham
Do that. So, so here's, here's what you just said that triggered me to thinking along these lines. We have the window film. So if you're, if you're a law enforcement agent trying to get into our building and you don't have a key or a key fob, you might say, I'm going to break the glass. That's not going to work either. Right. It's going to take you two more minutes to get through the glass. So you. So the challenge is now making sure that our fire department and our police and all the police have some type of tool that allow them to get in the building during a lockdown.
- [52:39]
John Brucato
Right.
- [52:40]
Dr. Brian Graham
Which is not easy to do. Right. You know, sometimes the ID badges are automatically turned off in a lockdown. Right. So now you're going to a manual key and then finding the right key. And I mean, most institutions have a lockbox on their school with a key in it, but all of that is precious time. So finding systems that will integrate with law enforcement, I think is one of the challenges that we are trying to overcome, you know, with the multiple agencies that will respond to our, to a crisis when we need them.
- [53:19]
John Brucato
Right. So winding down here, Brian, what are your long term goals with school security at Grand Island? I mean, what, what do you hope to achieve and how do you plan on achieving those goals?
- [53:29]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I, I think it's super important, quite honestly, when technologies like this are available, that the state education department backs it. Right. You, John, you know better than most that there have been some road bumps along the way with technology, particularly technology that captures biometric data. ZeroEyes does not do that, but some people immediately think it does. And so then they're hesitant and they don't want to engage. Right. But there are, and Brett could help me here. I think the entire state of Utah, through their education department, makes this available for free. I mean, the state's paying for it for all of the schools who want it. Right. So I think in your question about goals, for me, it's first, a 30,000 foot view is how can we make sure that the state education department, along with our legislators and our politicians get behind the idea of integrating technologies like this so that it's available for all schools, regardless of if you're in a rural area or an urban area, that it's affordable and available and equitable. Right. And I think, I do think that as we talk more about tools like this and educate the community at large, I think that that overall 30,000 foot view, we need something like that to help. And I'm not just talking about zero eyes, right? I'm talking about all technologies that will keep kids safe and focus us on our mission. All of those things need to be taken into account when agencies like the state education department and legislators say, wow, we have to prioritize this. Right? We have to. And remember, it's not just systems, it's supporting mental health and wellness and social emotional learning and other tools that are out there that help children overcome some of the anxiety and depression and challenges that they are living with. So to that end, I think, John, we just wrapped up a blueprint for excellence, which will be another five year strategic plan. We use Kevin McGowan, he's awesome, out of Brighton, and he did the facilitation. And again, having a plan that incorporates the ideas of not just academic excellence, but social responsibility and personal growth and mental health and wellness building plans like that that are adopted by boards and that the boards are so excited to be part of that ensures that budget dollars are attributed to the needs of the students based on that point in time. And I think that that's how it gets all tied together. But we really do need politicians and state ed people to better understand the tools. And to that end, Brett and I are co presenting at the New York State School Boards association in New York City. And we're going to, we have a nice little workshop on a Monday at 4:00. So if you're there, John, we will have some type of tchotchke to give you, I'm sure.
- [56:47]
John Brucato
Well, I'm only like 30 minutes north, so maybe I can sneak out and watch.
- [56:50]
Brett Handel
What better way to spend a Monday, honestly?
- [56:53]
Dr. Brian Graham
Right.
- [56:54]
John Brucato
And so Brett, you're obviously on the cutting edge when it comes to school security and implementing new technologies to just be more proactive. You know, if you had your crystal ball right now, what do you see kind of coming down the line and what should school districts really prepare themselves for?
- [57:09]
Dr. Brian Graham
I like this.
- [57:10]
John Brucato
The next iteration of school security.
- [57:13]
Brett Handel
Yeah, I think staying along the talk track I've had so far just in terms of AI. I think we're just scratching the surface in terms of the capabilities of AI and how else it can be leveraged to sort of streamline efficiencies across the board. I think Dr. Graham touched on this before in terms of they have multiple police departments covering, you know, the same jurisdiction there, whether it be local police, state police, border patrol, you know, being able to streamline who gets what call across the board there. Being able to go on cameras, not just at the school level, but on drones, on robotics, things like that. What we're able to detect in terms of the AI goes. I think all of those things are in the future for security technology. And I'm not talking about zero eyes here. I'm just talking about the overall landscape focusing on school security and how AI can support it. But I think it's going to be a big part of what's in the future. But that's the best part about technology. You don't, you don't really know until, until it's out there, until someone tries something and you see if it sticks. And then there's a bunch of other companies that are going to come out and try and do it better, if not the best. And, and that's what's cool about technology. There's a lot of opportunities to be good at it and to do it differently. There's no one way to do something. And I think if I were to have a crystal ball and if I were to have a one wish, it would be to go on every camera, you know, in the country. There's a fire suppression system in every school district, in every school across the country. Why not have a weapon detection system in their every school across the country? And not just saying it has to be zero wise, it doesn't matter what it is. I just want to have, you know, a safe environment for kids and staff across, across the nation. That's what they deserve. And to Dr. Graham's point about state funding, yeah, we've been fortunate enough to have a few state contracts out there with the state of Utah, state of Michigan, where they did provide funding to each school district to pay for a solution like ZeroEyes. And it didn't have to be for ZeroEyes, it could be for any security technology that was hardening in it. And it had to fall into certain had to fall within certain parameters, too. They didn't want you just buying anything. You had to meet certain standards there. And that's what I would love to see in the state of New York and nationwide here. I think every school should have the opportunity to protect their assets. And then, you know, their assets aren't just the students, it's the staff, it's the administration, it's everyone inside those walls and under that roof.
- [59:52]
Dr. Brian Graham
Yeah. And John, you know, he. He said something there that made me think about, you know, that. That kind of saying that's been around for a while, that the. That we're preparing our children for jobs that don't exist today. I mean, we're obviously preparing kids for jobs that do exist today. But when he just talked about drones and, you know, all. All these other tools and how everything can be integrated, and then I shared about what University of Buffalo is doing. These are jobs that, you know, didn't exist a year ago. And I think that also has an element of excitement for students and what we're doing in our mission to get kids ready for the future. So, yeah, it's. That's great, Brad. I like that a lot.
- [60:33]
Brett Handel
I'll say. You know, my first job out of college, I worked for a great company. Company. And we talked about this on your podcast. I was doing algorithm development and simulation software. And you got to work with some of the most cutting edge technologies. And not just technologies, but thinkers out there. These engineers that had these concepts in their head of, oh, I want to be able to do this. How can I get there? And hearing these different ideas, it sort of gets your brain spinning on, wow, what's next? And then when you start pairing technology with law enforcement, with those, you know, tactical groups, those tactical thinkers, then you start hearing their side of it. And I'll talk to police departments and they'll tell me, hey, Brett, we have a drone program going on now where we have a certain amount of funding allocated to deploy this drone fleet for incident response and things like that. And never in my life would I have thought, wow, oh, police department's using drones to go out there instead of patrol vehicles to see what sort of response is needed. And seeing all those things come together is really exciting for me, I think, and for anyone who is into technology and innovation, I guess.
- [61:39]
John Brucato
Yeah. So much has changed in such a short amount of time. I mean, just with artificial intelligence alone, it feels both brand new and that we've had it forever because it's developing so rapidly. But at any rate, Brian and Brett thank you so much for coming on and just really sharing what you're doing to keep your staff and students safe. And I'm excited, likely to bring you on again to talk more about what you're doing because obviously, Brian, you being the nerd that I know you are, this isn't the end for you. You got more coming down the line.
- [62:08]
Dr. Brian Graham
It's so true. It's so true. My children tease me because I'm always buying the newest iPhone and doing a hand me down program.
- [62:17]
John Brucato
They must appreciate that, right?
- [62:19]
Dr. Brian Graham
They do. They do. Yeah. For sure. Well, John, you are so great. Thank you so much for having us on.
- [62:24]
Brett Handel
John, thank you so much. Appreciate the platform, the time. I'm looking forward to hearing the episode when it comes out. So thank you again. It was great to meet you.
- [62:34]
John Brucato
Thank you for tuning in to School Business Insider. Make sure to check back each week for your favorite topics on school business.