For the better part of the last year, Seattle Central College has been planning to create a key-card entry system effective enough to implement on the entire school, save the entry of Broadway Edison and the Buzz Cafe. As complicated as any all-school system may be, the key card system presents a number of challenges, as SCC continues to attempt implementation of it for the school.
A key card system would be applied as a solution for what has been described by SCC President Dr. Sheila Edwards Lange as “concern about safety from students and faculty.” It has taken this year and longer to get a tap card entry format applied to most entrances to the Broadway Edison building.
The system has been talked about at Seattle Central since at least winter quarter last year. Through beta testing at Seattle Maritime Academy and the Wood Technology Center, there have been extenuating challenges in the roll out process.
So far no concrete details have been given, only an explanation that the administration has found a “a software issue that prevented the old and new system from communicating.” In a statement issued by SCC President Dr. Sheila Edwards Lange, she states that the school is “working with contractors to remediate the issue.”
This falls in line with updates from Roberto Bonaccorso, who maintains that the school does not know for certain when the change will be made, but rather hopes “the issues will be resolved before winter quarter, but it looks more likely for spring quarter.” Bonaccorso assures that the school will “send out more information soon about how and when students can expect to receive their new key cards to access the building.” The challenges in communication between the two systems has been the main reasoning for delay, according to all administrators involved in the process willing to comment.
Administrative staff stand by the delay as being strictly software based, and anticipate an update in the new year. Bonaccorso would add that the change is a “complicated transition involving a legacy and a new key card system, the creation and printing of new key cards for students and staff, and the installation of new readers.” As is often the case with “software and hardware projects, [the school’s] early projection was too optimistic.”
Any changes will be updated to the Collegian immediately as new information is released.
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