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LearnSafe Team to Begin District Safety and Security Assessments to Satisfy Texas SB 11 Requirements

(Aug 20, 2007)-- MDI, provider of Unified Technology solutions for the security industry announced that Zapata County ISD, Valley View ISD and San Perlita ISD have signed individual agreements with the LearnSafe School Safety and Security Initiative to implement the necessary people, processes and technology to achieve LearnSafe Certification Status. The program, when implemented, will designate each district as a LearnSafe Certified School System.

The LearnSafe Team will begin work immediately on safety and security assessments and site surveys for the three school districts which will provide cost estimates of hardware, software, systems, materials, labor, maintenance and comprehensive training required for the three districts to implement the LearnSafe Initiative at all of the facilities within the districts.

A Professional Funding Specialist provided by MDI will work with district administrators to complete the LearnSafe funding package. LearnSafe’s unique approach to funding delivers customized packages to schools based on the most appropriate short and long term options available. In most cases, LearnSafe is able to fund from 75% to 100% of the program without the need to issue vehicles that will increase taxpayer burden.

The assessment will empower each district to meet compliance requirements under Texas Senate Bill (SB) 11, which calls for school districts in the state to conduct security audits, at least once every three years, across all district facilities and report results to the board of trustees and the state. The deadline for completion of the first round of district audits is August 31, 2008. The program will also assist districts in complying with Senate Bill 9, which is known as the “fingerprinting bill.”

“The new safety and security compliance mandates are clearly stating that Superintendents and School Board Members will be responsible for the safety and security of their administrators, teachers and students,” stated Jack Walser, Executive Director of The LearnSafe Initiative. “The fact remains that although these mandates are timely in response to recent tragedies at school campuses, there are still three key gaps:

1. They are un-funded security mandates and do not offer any type of financial assistance to schools
2. They have no true proactive intervention components or research based staff training programs within them that are designed to prevent future incidents from occurring and
3. Educators are not security experts and there is no step-by-step roadmap or dedicated security team available to schools that can assist them in “fixing” the safety and security issues that are uncovered in the risk assessments.

We have seen similar security and privacy mandates across the Federal Government and Corporate America over the past several years with legislation such as Sarbanes Oxley, Graham Leach Bliley and HIPAA. The LearnSafe Initiative is designed to relieve these pressures from school district officials by providing them with a comprehensive turn-key solution that empowers them to educate and manage, while leaving the district’s safety and security compliance to us, both today and in the future,” he concluded.

In addition to MDI’s unified video surveillance, access control, automated lockdown and alarm management solution, the LearnSafe Team is comprised of:

* Nortel Communications - providing systems integration, 911 emergency notification and acknowledgement systems, network security and insider risk management solutions that deter cyberbullying and sexual predator Internet contact. Nortel currently provides products and services to thousands of school district customers across the nation, many of which are exclusive customer accounts.
* ASSA ABLOY – providing door security solutions and hardware components including badging hardware and access control readers and cards to thousands of schools nationwide. The company’s school based solutions include a revolutionary new finish coating designed for high-touch locks and door hardware called MicroShield™ that permanently suppresses the growth of bacteria, algae, fungus, mold and mildew. It is ideal for school system environments and lasts for the life of the hardware.
* The SBS Group – delivering a proactive behavioral intervention program in a “trainer of trainers” model that empowers school personnel to identify threats well in advance of a situation, intervene based on proven research and create an environment where students do not have to resort to violence to express their emotions. This unique LearnSafe component delivers the industry’s only standardized response to intervention solution, designed to decrease student anxiety, instead of waiting for students to fail.
* MDI Professional Services Group – providing dedicated program management, professional consulting, security training and centralized security monitoring solutions to LearnSafe customers.

MDI Security Systems is an official contract holder in The Cooperative Purchasing Network (TCPN). The TCPN contract is available for use by thousands of public and private schools, colleges, universities, cities, counties and other government agencies in the States of Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma to purchase products and services without having to undergo the time and direct costs associated with establishing a competitive bidding process.

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