Security for Church Schools and Daycares
An officer at the entrance who knows the parents, checks the pickup list and keeps the doors closed while the children are inside.
Request a proposalThe situation
What a church school or daycare deals with
Drop-off and pickup
Twice a day the lot fills with parents in a hurry, the doors are opened and closed constantly and children are handed from car to teacher. The pickup list is the control, and it fails when someone is in a hurry.
A school inside a church
The school shares the building with a congregation whose doors are open by design. Weekday visitors to the church office, the food pantry and the sanctuary are in the same building as the classrooms.
Custody and the parent who should not pick up
Directors keep a file of who may and may not collect each child. Applying it at the door when that parent arrives, upset, is the moment the staff dread.
The playground and the lot
The playground is on the street side, the lot is open, and a car can stop at the fence. Someone should be watching who is not also watching twelve children.
One door, one list
A church school’s security is its entrance. Everything else, the lot, the playground, the doors to the sanctuary, is watched from it. Price Protection’s post puts an officer at that door for drop-off and pickup, and through the day where the director chooses, with post orders written with the director from a walk of the campus: the pickup procedure and the list, the visitor sign-in, the buzzer, the doors between the school wing and the church, the playground schedule and the position the officer takes during it, and exactly what happens when a person who is not on the list asks for a child.
Drop-off and pickup
The two windows are the busiest and the most exposed. The officer greets parents, learns their names within weeks, keeps the door closed between arrivals, checks the list at pickup for every child and works the lot for the line and for the car that stops at the fence. A parent whose rights have changed is handled by the post orders: the child is not released, the director is called, and the officer stays courteous and at the door.
A school inside a church
The building belongs to a congregation that keeps its doors open on weekdays for the office, the pantry and the sanctuary. The officer’s rounds check the doors between the school wing and the rest of the building, and where the church wants it the officer signs in the church’s visitors too and keeps them on the church side. A repair crew in the sanctuary is logged and kept out of the classrooms.
Screening and training
Every officer holds a Texas DPS registration, which requires a fingerprint background check, and passes the company’s own background check and drug test. Officers assigned to a school are trained in first aid and briefed on the school’s emergency plan, and stay on the post so the parents and the children know them. Directors who require additional screening say so and the company meets it or says it cannot.
Starting coverage
Dispatch needs the school’s address, the hours of drop-off and pickup and the day, the pickup procedure, the visitor policy, the playground schedule, the church’s weekday use of the building and the director’s number. The supervisor walks the campus with the director, writes the post orders and the officer starts on the agreed morning.
How we cover it
Every service, applied to this post.
- Unarmed security guards
An unarmed officer at the school entrance for drop-off and pickup, and through the day where the director chooses, greeting parents, checking the pickup list, keeping the door closed between arrivals, watching the lot and the playground and walking the building.
- Access control
The school's entrance is the controlled door: the pickup list, the visitor sign-in and the buzzer are applied by the officer as the post orders assign, and the doors between the school wing and the rest of the church are checked on rounds.
- Camera monitoring
The church's cameras on the entrance, the lot and the playground are watched from the entrance post between arrivals, and clips are pulled for the director on request.
- Vehicle patrol
For campuses with a large lot or a playground on the street, a vehicle works the lot at drop-off and pickup and manages the line where the director asks.
- Incident reporting
A daily report to the director: pickups refused and why, visitors, doors found propped, lot and playground observations, incidents and anything the director asked the post to watch for.
A typical post
What a shift looks like here.
The morning officer opens the entrance before the first parent and reviews the day with the director: a field trip bus at nine, a parent whose pickup rights changed, a repair crew in the sanctuary. Drop-off runs for an hour: parents greeted by name, the door closed between arrivals, the lot watched for the line and for cars that stop by the playground fence.
Through the day the officer checks the doors between the school wing and the church, watches the playground from the entrance during outdoor time, signs in a delivery and the repair crew and walks the building on the hour. A man asking at the door for a child by name is not on the list; the officer holds him courteously at the door, calls the director, and the director handles it with the file open.
At pickup the list is checked for every child and the lot is worked until the last parent leaves. The report lists the man at the door with his description, a propped door found on the sanctuary side and the day's visitors, and the director reads it before she locks up.
Reporting
What the daily report covers here
Every client receives a written report each day, and officer performance is reviewed and documented daily. This is what the report records on this kind of post.
- Drop-off and pickup coverage, with times and the state of the lot
- Pickup refusals with the reason and how the director resolved them
- Visitors, deliveries and contractors signed in and out
- Doors between the school wing and the church found open or propped
- Playground and lot observations, with vehicles of interest
- Medical calls and injuries reported to the officer, with times
- Anything the director asked the post to watch for
Are the officers screened for work around children?
Every officer holds a Texas DPS registration, which requires a fingerprint background check, and passes the company's own background check and drug test. The director may set additional requirements and the company will meet them or say so.
How does the officer handle a parent who is not allowed to pick up?
By the post orders: the child is not released, the parent is held at the door courteously, the director is called immediately and the director handles it with the file. The officer calls the police if the parent becomes threatening.
Do we need coverage all day or only at drop-off and pickup?
Many programs cover the two windows and add midday coverage where the campus is open or the director wants the doors watched all day. The proposal prices the hours the director chooses.
Can the officer also cover the church's weekday visitors?
Yes, where the post orders assign it. The officer can sign in visitors to the office and the pantry and keep them out of the school wing, which is often the reason the church wants one person at the door.
What does the officer do during outdoor play?
Watches the playground and the fence line from a position agreed with the director, and the lot beyond it, so the teachers watch the children and the officer watches the street.
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Request a proposal
Request a proposal for church schools and daycares.
Two short steps. Dispatch reviews every request and calls you back about coverage. For urgent unarmed coverage we can typically staff most sites within hours.
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(281) 326-9189