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Email Newsletter
August 2003
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In July of 2002, we started a major upgrading of the video system that we
used to monitor (with both picture and sound) staff performance in our
residences and classrooms in order to make sure that our students'
programs are being carried out correctly, effectively, and safely. The
upgrade involved switching from analog VCR technology to March Networks digital streaming
video and audio (known as "DVRs") that is carried over the internet as well as recorded on
hard drives and CDs. See below for two sample screen views. This system
enables highly experienced supervisors, who watch monitors in a central
facility that is remote from the residences themselves, to see what is going on in all
residences in real time and to issue corrective directions, if
necessary, immediately. It also allows our administrators to view what is
going on in the residence at any time, even from their own homes, and
enables our Residential Monitoring staff to spot check the CDs to evaluate
staff performance on key tasks. Upon request, parents may use this system
to view our classrooms and residences without the fact of their
observation being known to those in the classrooms and residences. March Networks featured an article on our
use of the DVRs in their February - April 2003 newsletter saying "the DVRs
have dramatically improved productivity at the JRC's central monitoring
facility." |
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The Residential Monitoring
Department spot checks the preceding day's video recording to insure
staff performance. If questions arise concerning particular
incidents, the staff can retrieve the incident and view what
actually occurred. The recordings are usually kept for a period of
ten days. |
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Live, online,
digital video monitoring of our residences enables highly
experienced supervisors at our central monitoring facility to
monitor the performance of both staff and students at all residences
and provides both the staff and the students with a sense of
security. |
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Each of our
twenty-eight homes and apartments is now equipped with live remote
viewing capabilities that make use of digital video recording
technology. Similar equipment will soon be installed in our buses
and vans. |
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The viewing features
of the program allow multiple rooms to be displayed on the
screen at one time. |
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In some residences,
a staff member who is on duty at the residence is stationed at a
special monitoring station within the residence and monitors what
goes on in all rooms of the house throughout each shift. This live
monitoring at certain residences is in addition to the live, online
monitoring that is also done for each residence by our
centrally-based monitoring staff at 250 Turnpike Street, Canton. |
Please
click here
to go to the Judge Rotenberg Center web site,
www.judgerc.org.
To contact a member of our
Admissions Department, please email
j.gomes@judgerc.org.
Judge Rotenberg Educational Center
240 Turnpike Street
Canton, MA 02021
Phone: (781) 828-2202 Fax: (781) 828-2804
www.judgerc.org
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