District proposes $674,000 surveillance and access upgrade for secondary campus; board raises privacy and AI concerns

District technology and security staff presented a recommended upgrade to the secondary campus surveillance and access-control systems, saying the current equipment is at or near end of life and lacks needed functionality.

Staff described the proposal as a full replacement of exterior and interior cameras, door-access and badge systems and an integrated platform that would provide search functionality, license-plate capture and other features not available in the current, disconnected systems. The total cost presented for a one-for-one replacement plus added exterior cameras was about $674,000; staff said a vendor had offered a five-year 'same as cash' financing option that would spread payments to roughly $134,000 per year.

Board members raised privacy and accuracy concerns about AI-assisted search features. One technology staff member responded that the AI is intended as a search aid, not a facial-recognition arrest tool: "There is no way that I can tell the system to find my face," he said, and added the tool returns candidate clips that a human must review. Nevertheless, members asked for explicit policy language on law-enforcement access (staff said a subpoena would be required for access to footage) and requested alternate bids and performance comparisons before making a decision.

Staff said the system warranty/expected service life would be roughly ten years and that replacing local servers with a more modern, supported platform would reduce staff time spent searching multiple camera feeds.

The board did not vote on the upgrade during the study session and asked staff to obtain alternate pricing and clarify the terms and vendor safeguards for AI functionality and data access.