Case Study: Mission Dolores Academy improves school safety and efficiency with Verkada

Mission Dolores Academy Returns to School Safely with Verkada

Mission Dolores Academy, an independent Catholic K-8 school in San Francisco, needed to modernize campus safety and operations as it returned to school during the pandemic. The school faced three main challenges: poor-quality video monitoring in a transitional neighborhood, paper-based visitor check-in processes that didn’t match its tech-forward image, and a costly, error-prone alarm system that was generating thousands in false dispatch fees. To address these issues, Mission Dolores Academy turned to Verkada’s cameras, access control, guest management, alarms, and air quality solutions.

With Verkada, Mission Dolores Academy unified physical security in a single platform, gaining clearer real-time video visibility, keyless remote entry, integrated visitor check-in, and wireless intrusion detection. The school can now initiate lockdowns in seconds, manage access by user and schedule, and track visitors centrally while reducing false alarms and cutting costs. Verkada also helped eliminate about $5,000 in annual false alarm dispatch fees and improved staff efficiency by notifying hosts when guests arrive, allowing staff to stay focused on students.

Mission Dolores Academy

Meredith Essalat

Head of School