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![\"JOHN](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4312965_web1_260615_school_security_2.JPG\")
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JOHN WOODS \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
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Cam Johnson, principal of \u00c9cole Mazina-Giizhik, beside the school’s new security system which photographs visitors and staff.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Nearly $1 million, the majority of which is for one-time expenses, has been earmarked to standardize building access and surveillance measures.<\/p>\n
As of this spring, every site has a new sign-in station featuring a tablet using an app from Sign In Solutions, a cloud-based management and software company.<\/p>\n
Guests and itinerant staff are now required to, upon entry, register their name and take a photo via the tablet, in addition to donning a visitor badge. The setup allows principals to track who is in their building in real time via their smartphones.<\/p>\n
The division\u2019s security overhaul was announced after Education Minister Tracy Schmidt called on school leaders across the province to review their access policies late last year.<\/p>\n
Schmidt\u2019s Dec. 1 directive was issued after the Winnipeg Police Service laid charges against a registered sex offender \u2014 the first of two rounds of recent charges \u2014 accused of grabbing a child inside Darwin School.<\/p>\n
Scott William George is alleged to have entered the elementary school on Nov. 27 to hide in a bathroom and assault a girl who was able to break free and ran for help.<\/p>\n
George, a 28-year-old at the time of his arrest that day, is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday. He is charged with assault, forcible confinement and two counts of breaching court orders.<\/p>\n
Police have since laid additional charges alleging George entered Dakota Collegiate twice in November in the leadup to the incident at the nearby elementary school.<\/p>\n
Chief financial officer Jamie Rudnicki said decision-makers in the Louis Riel School Division have sought to strike a balance in undertaking upgrades.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur schools are community schools and they need to be warm and welcoming places for our students, our staff and our community,\u201d Rudnicki said. \u201cBut in the same breath, they have to be secure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The board of trustees was told the overhaul would be complete by the end of the summer break, at the earliest, during their last public briefing on the subject.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t JOHN WOODS \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Every school has a new sign-in station featuring a tablet using an app from Sign In Solutions, a cloud-based management and software company.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cThere will be updates to the existing fob readers, new access-controlled doors and new video intercom systems that will be implemented, as well as the new video intercom consoles,\u201d facilities manager Amarbeer Bhandari told the mid-February meeting.<\/p>\n That meeting heard the division had budgeted roughly $834,000, in addition to an $83,000 contingency fund, for the access upgrades.<\/p>\n Bhandari noted there was about $30,000 in one-time costs to purchase 41 tablets and kiosks for the new visitor-management system. The division\u2019s annual Sign In Solutions subscription is about $45,000 (US$32,000), she added.<\/p>\n Four schools \u2014 Samuel Burland School, \u00c9cole Van Belleghem, Coll\u00e8ge B\u00e9liveau and Nelson McIntyre Collegiate \u2014 piloted the new sign-in system in the winter. It became universal after spring break.<\/p>\n Hagan, who oversees IT initiatives, said there were between five and 10 daily entries, \u201ca potpourri\u201d of division staff and other visitors, during a pilot in one of the middle-sized buildings.<\/p>\n The director said he hopes the new technology will give school staff \u201cpeace of mind\u201d when they see an unfamiliar face and help administrators make sure everyone is accounted for during an evacuation.<\/p>\n Sign In Solutions was chosen based on how feature-rich and cost-effective it is, he said.<\/p>\n The division\u2019s review of building security also involved assessing each school to determine how many controlled access points were required and staff fobs were needed.<\/p>\n \u2014 With files from Dean Pritchard<\/p>\n maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t Maggie Macintosh Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie<\/a>.<\/p>\n Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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