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KidGopher uses digital signage to keep school kids safe (Video)

Digital signage is an integral piece of a new system helping keep school kids safe.

April 4, 2011 by Christopher Hall — w, t

Digital signage is an integral piece of a new system helping keep school kids safe.

Software solutions firm CQ Media Networks, based in Greenville, S.C., recently introduced the KidGopher Secure Child Pick Up System, designed to make sure the right people are picking up the right kids after school.

The "drop zone app" is a combined RFID and database-driven system that works with CQ Media's Hypersign Digital Signage Solution.

In the KidGopher system, children's guardians or "Gophers" will have an RFID card created with all of their contact information and a photo ID. Each gopher card will be associated with the student or students that gopher is permitted to pick up. Educators will scan the Gopher Cards during pick up to verify the identity of the guardian. Once approved, this information is then displayed in real time at the designated pick up location using Hypersign Digital Signage, telling the children to proceed to the pickup site. This information is also displayed on a touch pad device that the faculty/staff use to securely place each child in the proper vehicle.

The KidGopher system is already in place at North Springs Elementary School in Columbia, S.C., where Principal Denise Barth said she is "excited" to have the system in place.

"It is in, and it is running, and we are thrilled," she said in a video posted by CQ Media on YouTube.

"KidGopher provides a way to be certain that every adult is who they say they are and they're picking up only the children they're allowed to pick up," she said. "Carpool lines are scary. Dismissal is the scariest time of the day. So when you have 150 to 200 cars and 250 to 300 children, knowing that the technology is making sure that the adult is verified and the child is accurately placed in the right vehicle is priceless."

Watch the video below to see how the system works in schools.

CQ Media released KidGopher at February's Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas, and KidGopher was recently chosen to receive the 2011 "Most Innovative New Digital Signage Solution" award by RAVE Publications.

CQ Media Networks said it also is working with state agencies to implement an Amber Alert System within the KidGopher solution, which will be available soon. The Amber Alert function will enable school administration to submit an alert should a child be taken by an invalid "Gopher," the company said. Included in the alert will be records of the child, and the information about the kidnapper, including the type of vehicle, personal appearance and time of day when the child was taken.

Watch the video below to hear more from Barth about KidGopher.

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