Why Student Visibility Matters in Today’s Schools

School Safety Today podcast, presented by Raptor Technologies.

In this episode of School Safety Today by Raptor Technologies, host Dr. Amy Grosso interviews SRO Todd Brendel of Dayton Independent Schools (KY), who shares frontline insights on the importance of knowing where students and staff are throughout the school day. He explains how they manage student movement, visibility, and accountability, including the tools, processes, and technology they use to support safety.

KEY POINTS:

1. Monitoring campus movement can help reduce bullying, vandalism, vaping, and unsafe meetups.

2. Visibility into movement data helps staff identify patterns, monitor time out of class, and address concerning behaviors sooner.

3. Small operational decisions often have a greater impact than high-profile threat scenarios.

Our guest, Todd Brendel, is a veteran law enforcement leader and School Resource Officer (SRO) serving at Dayton Independent Schools in Dayton, Kentucky. He began his career in policing in 1990 and was among the first School Resource Officers in Kentucky in 1999. Over the course of his career, he served in patrol and leadership roles, and eventually as Police Chief before retiring in 2020.

Following his retirement, Brendel returned to school safety work and is now in his fourth year as an SRO at Dayton. He has also served as president of Kentucky’s SRO association and remains deeply committed to strengthening campus safety through practical systems, strong school culture, and thoughtful use of technology.