Though schools are currently practicing remote learning to follow government guidelines to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, Norris is hard at work with two school systems in the Green Mountain State. They are providing valuable upgrades to life-safety and security systems to prepare for the eventual return of students, faculty, and staff.

Norris is helping to keep people safer at Lake Region Union High School in Barton and Poultney High School in Poultney.

Norris currently handles all life-safety and security systems at LRUHS, including HALO, a new vape and bullying detection system from IPVideo Corporation.

Norris has deployed the HALO system at LRUHS in conjunction with Vigilance software to alert staff to students vaping quickly.

As previously reported, Vigilance worked directly with IPVideo to develop a direct integration between the two solutions.

According to Vigilance Software Head of Product Jeremy Boutot, Vigilance worked directly with IPVideo over the last year to integrate directly with the HALO Sensor. The resulting integration gives LRUHS a more advanced alerting and notification system that is faster and easier to use.

 Unlike a traditional HALO vape detector deployment that may use a slower email process for alerts, Norris offers the fastest alerting possible (3-5 seconds) through Vigilance software, which sends alerts to select staff members’ mobile devices and PCs. With multiple staff members receiving alerts in the fastest possible manner, response time is cut down, and subsequent incidents of student vaping should decrease.

Folks at LRUHS are thrilled with the new solution.

“Vaping was and is a problem. The detectors are working well on both the vape detection and the tampering with both happening before school was closed,” said LRUHS Head of Maintenance BJ Judd. “Norris is always good to work with as we have worked with them for several years on various projects.”

Judd also noted that there was “no real data” yet on how effective the HALO detectors are overall since remote learning was instituted before he could start charting incidents.

Readers can learn more about vape detection in general by visiting Vigilance. More information on the HALO solution can be found here.

In addition to their work at LRUHS, Norris is also hard at work at Poultney High School in Rutland County.

Norris has deployed a new American-made Sapling Wireless Synchronized Clocks System. After several decades of using a hard-wired clock and bell system plagued with limited programming options and intermittent synchronization, and power issues, administrators worked with Norris VT systems integrator Dame Diette to modernize.

 “One Sapling master clock unit installed and connected to their network transmits a wireless signal to battery-powered classroom clocks through a license-free mesh network,” Diette said. “As a result of the built-in repeaters in each clock, the wireless signal can be received by any clock within the signal’s radius. This adds an extra layer of insurance that the clocks in their system are displaying the correct time.”

 Representatives of PHS did not return emails by the deadline.

 Diette also noted that the master clock has automatic bi-annual daylight savings time adjustments and allows PHS staff to update set bell schedules and manually activate the bell from any Internet-connected PC.

“The user-friendly web interface is simple to use and update as needed,” Diette said, “and the clocks themselves only need their batteries changed about every seven years.”

What is Norris all about?

Norris, Inc.—a Saco, Maine-based life-safety and security systems integrator with satellite offices in Bangor, Maine; Lee, New Hampshire; and Burlington, Vermont—was founded nearly 40 years ago by two brothers, Brad and Harty Norris.

On February 28, 2020 Norris Inc was acquired by Minuteman Security Technologies Inc.  Minuteman Security Technologies Inc. (Minuteman), headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts and founded in 1998, is a leading provider of enterprise security technology solutions. Minuteman security systems are used by a wide range of organizations throughout the United States. Customers include law enforcement, energy companies, mass transit, large retail chains, academic institutions, public safety agencies, and community hospitals with regional offices from Maine to Illinois.