How Middlebury Community Schools Reduced Student Vaping by 30% with Rhombus

Middlebury Community Schools, located in northeastern Elkhart County, Indiana, serves a growing community of 4,300 students and 550 staff members across seven schools and an administrative center that is spread out across 100 square miles.

The district was stuck with a legacy security system that required costly maintenance and wasted valuable time and resources. With each building relying on its own on-premise server, a School Resource Officer (SRO) had to drive to each site to access footage. This delayed response times, making it harder to monitor critical areas in real-time and curb student vaping. To fix these issues, Middlebury needed a modern security solution to reduce vaping, enhance security, save time, and cut maintenance costs.

Challenges

Student and staff safety is paramount for any school. Middlebury Community Schools was stuck with an outdated security system that presented significant challenges to improving safety across the district:

• Limited coverage in critical areas like doorways, hallways, and shared spaces.
• Investigations required IT staff to drive to individual schools, delaying incident responses and wasting security resources.
• The outdated on-premises system often experienced outages, with no alert notifications when cameras went offline.
• Repairs required external technicians, which increased maintenance costs and left cameras nonfunctional for weeks at a time.
• Principals, School Resource Officers (SROs), and IT struggled with complex interfaces, reducing system adoption and effectiveness.

Results with Rhombus

Middlebury Community Schools implemented Rhombus’ cloud-managed physical security platform, including cameras and environmental sensors across the entire district. Leadership now has centralized visibility to each school, from anywhere, along with immediate alerts when there is a security issue This has helped Middlebury Community Schools improve safety, reduce student vaping, drive operational efficiency, and implement cost-effective security operations district-wide.

Reduced Student Vaping by 30% with Improved Response Times

The district has seen a measurable improvement in response times for security and safety incidents, with real-time notifications and instant access to footage. Since implementing Rhombus, Middlebury Community Schools has reduced average incident response time by 10 minutes. This enhanced speed allows staff to mitigate risks and resolve issues more quickly.

Using Rhombus environmental sensors the district has decreased student vaping incidents by 30%. To achieve this incredible result while protecting student privacy, Middlebury deployed sensors in every bathroom in their middle school and high school that pair with hallway cameras. This allows the district to detect bathroom vaping and tie it to hallway camera footage in real-time. This combination has created a powerful and visible deterrent to student vaping and culminated in a healthier school environment.

Saved $10,000 in Annual IT Maintenance Costs

Since installing Rhombus, Middlebury’s IT team has been able to improve their workload efficiency, decreasing system outages by 80% when compared to their previous system. With the increased reliability and reduced maintenance requirements of Rhombus’ cloud-managed physical security system, the district has saved $10,000 in annual IT costs.

Middlebury has also been able to save time for their IT team across the district. Instead of driving on-site to troubleshoot system issues, the IT team can view system health and receive alerts anytime, anywhere. This saves between 8 hours and 10 hours per week of work, enabling the IT staff to dedicate their time to more mission critical projects.

"I’m a huge proponent of this platform. It’s cost-effective, reliable, and provides everything we need—and more. Schools considering Rhombus should absolutely make the switch. You won’t regret it." - Jeremy Miller, Director of Technology

Decreased Investigation Time by 70%

Prior to working with Rhombus, the Middlebury team had to spend hours searching for important footage. Now, thanks to advanced AI search features, they can review the same amount of footage in minutes. This allows staff to address incidents promptly and spend more time on preventative measures.

Improved Emergency Preparedness

Rhombus has become a critical part of Middlebury Community Schools’ safety and emergency preparedness procedures. The district has incorporated the Rhombus platform into their school safety drills, including lockdown scenarios. During these drills, a designated staff member tracks the “intruder” using the camera system, providing real-time updates on their location throughout the building via radio communication. This capability has enhanced the district’s ability to prepare for potential threats by enabling staff to monitor and respond to intruders quickly and effectively.

Looking Ahead

Middlebury Community Schools plans to continue expanding with Rhombus as part of their security operations across the district. This includes implementing Rhombus Access Control solutions to unify their security ecosystem, allowing for seamless management of cameras, sensors, and door readers from a single pane of glass. Middlebury Community Schools is setting the highest standard for security and operational excellence with Rhombus, ensuring a safe and productive environment for students and staff.