Murrieta Valley USD Continues to Innovate with Extron AV and GVCCS, Integrating Raptor Connect and More

Murrieta Valley Unified School District (Murrieta Valley USD) in Riverside County, California, serves 21,603 students in grades TK-12 on 21 campuses. The district is in the top 30 percent of California public schools, measured by testing ranking.

CHALLENGES

Murrieta Valley USD is a long-time user of Extron classroom audiovisual systems and GlobalViewer^® Campus Communication Suite (GVCCS). A pair of Extron case studies published in 2018 and 2020 describe how the District has incorporated Extron audiovisual hardware and software into its campuses, classrooms, and district-wide operations.

In this case study, we explore how Murrieta Valley USD is enhancing campus safety and security by engaging Extron and Raptor Technologies to integrate emergency alert capabilities of Raptor^® Connect^™ with the existing district-wide public address infrastructure available through GVCCS and related Extron classroom audio products.

From concept, to design, to API software development, culminating in going operational at our schools, Extron and Raptor Technologies worked together to get audible bell and paging EMS alerts up and running. We’re very impressed with how rapidly Extron and Raptor responded, and with the performance of the integrated EMS capabilities. I serve on school IT advisory committees and boards that help shape the future of education through technology, and I advocate for these types of emergency alert systems whenever the subject arises.

DESIGN SOLUTION

Emergency Alert Integration

Student safety is a top priority for Murrieta Valley USD, and the district continually looks for ways to strengthen its ability to respond quickly and clearly during critical situations. By bringing together trusted communication and safety platforms, the district has enhanced its ability to deliver timely, district-wide alerts that help protect students, staff, and visitors.

Raptor Connect is an integration platform developed by Raptor Technologies to enable native, bi-directional integration of its emergency alert system with a school’s other digital security systems, including GVCCS. It can activate an emergency response from a single point instead of activating separate systems. It streamlines digital emergency response activations, speeding notifications.

In the event of an emergency, alerts initiated by school personnel using the Raptor system automatically initiate pre-planned audible alerts developed and approved by the district and stored as public address announcement and bell presets within GVCCS. The announcements can be delivered immediately across campuses to provide clear, consistent guidance and are designed to reduce confusion, support calm decision making, and help ensure that everyone receives the same information at the same time. Alerts reach instructional spaces and common areas simultaneously, reinforcing situational awareness throughout the campus. GVCCS’s audio ducking function ensures that PA announcements override any other audio coming over the speakers in classrooms.

This integrated approach allows authorized personnel to initiate alerts quickly using familiar tools, supporting a fast response when every second matters. By relying on multiple communication pathways, the district helps ensure critical messages are delivered reliably, even in challenging circumstances

From initial planning through deployment, Murrieta Valley USD worked with Extron and Raptor Technologies to move from concept to operational readiness in a short timeframe. The result is a coordinated safety communication capability that strengthens emergency preparedness while remaining easy for staff to use under pressure.

Extron Flat Field ceiling speakers have been part of our classroom AV system designs going back many years. They’re ubiquitous across all campuses. They’re very reliable; we’ve never had one fail in over 10 years of service. Their wide sound dispersion pattern produces impressive sound saturation in classrooms and other venues. Flat Field speakers are the unsung heroes of our AV installations.

Important Roles for Classroom Loudspeakers and Mics

Loudspeakers in classrooms are important to get the word out, whether it’s PA announcements, audiovisual lesson material, or the instructor’s voice. In-classroom teaching is the priority at Murrieta Valley USD. But for circumstances that keep some students from coming to school, hybrid learning is a solution that Murrieta Valley USD has used and always strives to improve.

The district received feedback that the Extron classroom AV systems that are standard across its campuses provide quality visuals of instructional material at both the near and far ends and the Flat Field^® ceiling speakers that are part of those AV systems allow remote students to be heard clearly in the classrooms. To enhance the telepresence experience for remote students, the district is experimenting with directional mics in select classrooms. These mics capture the classroom audio environment for remote listeners, allowing them to feel more involved with the classroom group. The results are outstanding, warranting wider deployment of this technology.

Extron VoiceLift^® Pro wireless pendant microphones are helping teachers to be heard and prevent vocal fatigue in about 30 percent of Murrieta Valley USD classrooms. Deployment of VoiceLift continues apace as funds become available.

Although 30 percent of our classrooms are equipped with VoiceLift Pro right now, my long term goal is to equip all of our classrooms with these mics. Because, in the classrooms where they are available, the teachers use them and ensuring that the AV user experience is consistent across all of our educational spaces is critical.

RESULTS

Reflecting on why Murrieta Valley Unified School District has relied on Extron education technology for many years, Jonathan Pratt, the district’s Chief Technology Officer, says two reasons stand-out: support and reliability. Addressing support, Pratt notes that, “Over the years, we could always depend on great support from Extron. That was affirmed yet again with the recent integration of GVCCS with Raptor Connect. Raptor Technologies and Extron approached the project with openness and professionalism to quickly create an emergency management integration that met our needs.” On the subject of reliability, Pratt elaborates, “Many school districts, ours included, operate on tight budgets. The solid reliability of Extron equipment allows me to stretch-out replacement cycles over many years. There are times when outdated technology must be refreshed. But otherwise, the fact that our Extron AV assets keep working year after year with little or no maintenance provides the flexibility to strategically spend our IT and AV funding where it does the most good for our students.”

Photos courtesy of Murrieta Valley Unified School District.

Raptor screen images courtesy of Raptor Technologies.

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