Amherst Schools
Windermere becomes Site-Wise safe
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Whenever a crisis arises at Windermere Boulevard Elementary School, responders are a click away from finding the location.

Windermere is equipped with Site-Wise, a security software program developed by MJW Corporation in Amherst.

The program was presented at the Amherst Board of Education’s Dec. 5 meeting.

James Wierowski, MJW senior vice president said Site-Wise was originally developed 10 years ago as a response to the needs of the country’s nuclear power plants. MJW has existed for 22 years.

Site-Wise allows first responders, law enforcement officials and school personnel instantaneous images and designs of Windermere.

“This is all about taking digital photographs and analog them in a way that every picture is related to a floor plan or elevated drawing or something that tells the user where they are and what direction they are going,” said Wierowski.

MJW representatives spent two days over the summer at Windermere taking more than 2,500 pictures of all classrooms, hallways, and offices from every angle. The digital photos were catalogued and divided into components agreed upon between MJW, the Amherst school district and police, fire and emergency management service personnel.

“It matters what pictures were taken,” said Wierowski. “Working with the police, fire department and emergency management services, we generated lists as to what is important. Once we had the list, we worked with the building staff. Then we defined them and took pictures.”

Video clips were also installed at select portions of the buildings to show responders how they operate. Videos of Windermere’s fire alarm panel and the public address system were shown at the meeting.

A 360-degree image of the Windermere roof and building elevations of the school were also presented.

Lt. James McNamara of the Amherst Police Department said Site-Wise is easy to use, and any responder can work his or her way through the system.

All Amherst police officers have access to the program by inserting a small thumb disk into the IBM laptops in their cruisers and entering a secure password. The program is encrypted.

Amherst is the first school district in the area to collect data for Site- Wise.

“We have a number of schools around the country using this system but in a fairly limited capacity,” said Wierowski. “Not every floor is catalogued. Amherst is going to be the benchmark for proper things to have catalogued for a system like this.”

The first business in the area to use the program is Emergency Management in Lancaster.

Amherst’s acting Superintendent Paul Wietig, who volunteered for Site-Wise at Windermere, said the program was shown to Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-Clarence, in September.

“The next step is to have it at each of our buildings,” said Wietig.

In another matter, Wietig said an ad hoc committee with representatives from the Smallwood PTA and faculty will be formed soon to help search for a new Smallwood principal. The current principal, Barbara Marotto, is retiring at the end of this school year.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com