How Yadkin County Schools Swapped a Clunky Legacy System for Fast, Accurate Alerts
Easy enough for staff who aren’t technically minded
Hardware delivered within a week, installed by district IT
Quick, accurate alerts that flag banned individuals
The Yadkin County Schools story
Aging Equipment, a Clunky Interface, and Three Years of Looking
Yadkin County Schools is a public school district in North Carolina. For Patrick Reagan, Coordinator for School Safety and Security, maintaining consistent, reliable security across every campus is both a logistical and a moral responsibility — and aging equipment and a clunky interface were making even basic video tasks a challenge.
The legacy video system had become increasingly difficult to use. “It’s cumbersome, and honestly, you have some difficulty manipulating the system,” Reagan said. Even as someone familiar with the platform, he found it limiting and unreliable, and equipment failures added to the frustration.
The search for something better was not new. “I’ve been looking at different systems for the last three years,” he said. “Even trying new systems and trying to find a good fit for Yadkin County Schools.”
The Solution
The Most Affordable Option, With No Risk of Locked-Up Data
When Reagan discovered Coram, the combination of capability, affordability, and dependability stood out. “Ultimately, what it came down to was it was the most affordable option, and it provided us a great platform to work off of without risking just complete lockup of data if some funding source got delayed.”
The rollout was seamless. Hardware arrived within a week, and the district’s IT team handled installation with minimal hiccups. The one snag came from the district’s own cameras: “The only challenge we had was because our cameras were actually so old, the audio features weren’t readily available… but the Coram tech team jumped in and within probably two weeks, they had a fix and our audio was back up and running.”
Coram stood out for a few specific reasons:
- Ease of use: Simple for non-technical staff to navigate
- Rapid rollout: Hardware delivered within a week and installed by the district’s own IT team
- Responsive support: Quick fixes and clear communication throughout setup and troubleshooting
- Affordability: Robust capabilities without financial risk
- Accurate alerts: Trusted by administrators for real safety gains
- Proactive features on hand: Facial recognition for banned individuals and optional weapon detection tools, ready as camera coverage expands
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The Benefits
Principals Over the Moon, and Alerts They Can Trust
The new system quickly won over administrators. “Our principals who have already started using the software and the cameras… speak over the moon about how easy it is to use,” Reagan said. The alerts now include facial recognition for banned individuals and optional weapon detection tools. Firearm detection wasn’t the district’s top priority, but Reagan values having proactive safety features available as Yadkin expands its camera coverage.
What Yadkin County Schools Is Doing with Coram
- Putting video in principals’ hands: Software simple enough for staff who aren’t technically minded.
- Acting on alerts quickly: Alerts arrive fast, and administrators find them accurate.
- Flagging banned individuals: Facial recognition alerts when a banned person appears on camera.
- Keeping weapon detection available: Optional firearm detection tools ready as coverage expands.
- Working with a responsive team: The IT department called communication from Coram’s support team “quite positive.”
Reagan summed it up best: “The system is actually better than we thought it would be. It’s been a big win for us.”
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The system is actually better than we thought it would be. It’s incredibly easy to use—even for someone who’s not super technically minded.
They’re just amazed at how quickly the system is up and running and how quickly the alerts come in—and furthermore, how accurate they are.
