How Pena Mesa Middle School Turned Grainy Footage Into Evidence That Holds Up
Clear images that hold up when a parent presses for proof
Type a description and jump straight to matching footage
Drop in a face to see every place a person appeared on campus
The Pena Mesa Middle School story
Grainy Footage and Limited Storage Left Room for Doubt
Pena Mesa Middle School is part of Snowline Joint Unified School District, a public school district. As Dean of Students, Heather Pittman handles campus safety investigations and student accountability — the routine follow-ups where a clear answer matters.
When Heather arrived at the school, the existing camera setup made those follow-ups hard. Footage was “very grainy, difficult to see,” and storage was limited, making it tough to find or keep what mattered.
The result was predictable: day-to-day investigations took longer and left more room for doubt. When a question came up, the video often couldn’t settle it.
The Solution
Productive in Minutes, With AI Tools Still Being Discovered
Heather wasn’t part of the original evaluation, but she approached the new system the way she approaches any decision: research, reviews, and comparisons with peers in education. How long did the basics take? “Maybe five, ten minutes. Not long.” A recent Coram training then revealed AI tools she hadn’t realized were available, including natural-language video search.
Coram stood out for a few specific reasons:
- Image clarity that resolves disputes: Identities confirmed without second-guessing
- AI assist for speed: Type a description to find relevant moments instead of scrubbing
- Campus-wide traceability: Face-based results show every appearance across cameras
- Rapid adoption: Non-technical users get value within minutes
- Safety features in reserve: Capabilities like weapon detection add another layer when needed — “definitely helpful… kind of scary at the same time, but… useful”
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The Benefits
Clarity That Ends the Argument
The clearest impact is clarity. In a recent off-hours incident at a district elementary school, a parent pressed for proof — and the footage delivered. “The very first picture I saw, I knew it was so and so… we had six other images… there was no doubt about it because of how clear the images were.”
What Pena Mesa Is Doing with Coram
- Confirming identities with confidence: Clear, high-confidence images that hold up when challenged.
- Searching by description: Type what you’re looking for and Coram pulls up anything that matches, instead of manual scrubbing.
- Tracing movement across campus: Drop in a face to see every place a person appears, speeding up routine “where were they?” checks.
- Expanding coverage: Additional Coram cameras are planned for the remaining “dead spots,” extending clarity and search across the full campus.
Asked personally, apart from speaking for the district, Heather’s verdict is clear: “Yes, I would definitely recommend it.”
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It was very exciting to learn about being able to type in a description and then it pulls up anything that matches that description, which was really great.
In comparison to other systems I’ve dealt with over the years, I would definitely recommend Coram.
