As educational leaders continue the challenging conversation about what the new normal will look like for students across the nation in the upcoming academic year, Allied Universal, a security and facility services company in North America, is helping school administrators and campus safety departments plan and prepare for students returning to school. Allied Universal’s more than 7,500 campus security professionals safeguard nearly 700 schools and universities nationwide.

Over the last several months, Allied Universal’s education experts have been sharing best practices, guidance and tools to help schools provide a safe and secure environment for all students and faculty. This guidance includes the following:

• Support “no touch” entry into buildings, dissemination of personal protection equipment (PPE) and disinfecting supplies and social distancing requirements to keep staff, students and parents safe. Allied Universal’s CARE Ambassadors are available to help ease return to school anxieties and are available to welcome, inform and educate students and parents on all aspects of the return to school initiatives.
• Conduct distance temperature screening with a broad range of solutions such as handheld, fixed or semi-permanent thermal screening imaging and robotic and kiosk screening technology.
• Assist with traffic control, provide improved management of drop-offs and pickups and support ingress and egress locations around school buildings.
• Help mitigate further risks with advanced technologies such as Allied Universal’s HELIAUS platform, LiveSafe’s Mobile Safety and Security app, access control and remote video monitoring solutions.

“Institutional stakeholders are asking questions about what the ‘new normal’ will look like for our students, while, at the same time, our educational leaders are balancing budgets and dealing with lay-offs and staffing decisions while continuing to provide a high quality academic experience for students across the country,” said Stephen R. Aborn, director of higher education at Allied Universal. “We are here to support and offer a variety of solutions to keep all school campuses safe during the COVD-19 pandemic.” 

Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided recommendations on how to keep communities safe while resuming peer-to-peer learning.  

“We recognize the hard work of our education leaders and support their mission of furthering learning and education to all students in a safe environment,” said Mahsa Karimi, education manager at Allied Universal. “It is our number one goal to provide our education partners with the safety resources and tools they need so they can focus on what they do best — to continue to teach and inspire our students.”