Discovery Village

Nestled in Tarrytown, Discovery Village, a leading childcare center and preschool, is opening its doors to communities in Westchester and the Rockland Counties.

Kangarootime is Discovery Village’s childcare management platform of choice, dedicated to automating billing and invoicing, effectively managing staff, communicating with families, and giving teachers control of the classroom.

We met with Shira Leibowitz, CEO and Founder of Discovery Village, to learn more about how Kisi and Kangarootime support trust, ease of use, and security amongst their members.

With 100+ members including parents and staff, having a one app experience that covers security and operations is crucial for Discovery Village in maintaining secure and flexible space.

Kisi-secured doors for a safe, welcoming preschool environment

Kisi and Kangarootime have been in place since the very first day Discovery Village opened back in 2019. When Shira purchased the center, the access control system consisted of a keypad with a code. There wasn’t enough flexibility, and it didn’t seem secure enough.

Shira has been a principal of pre-K to 8th grade schools for 20 years. Most of the education centers she managed were faith-based Jewish schools. AntiSemitic threats against the schools weren’t uncommon. During these years, Shira received substantial training in security and emergency response protocol.

“Secure doors were non-negotiable to me. I looked for a solution that had high standards, and the recommendation to use Kisi came from a parent in the school who was in a security-related field and knew of the integration with Kangarootime”, says Shira Leibowitz.

Kisi’s secure access methods let students, parents, staff, and visitors access the preschool spaces in the easiest way possible without sacrificing security. The Kangarootime integration enables preschools to instantly change or revoke access on a user, door, or group-wide basis and ensure security remains the top priority.

Kisi provides peace of mind to parents and staff

During the pandemic, one of Discovery Village’s priorities was maintaining trust with parents while adhering to the proper biosecurity protocols. Parents were welcome to visit their children during the day, and having Kisi installed in the outfacing doors added a layer of security and convenience.

As avid users of the app, parents had constant access to their children during the daycare’s working hours. With Kisi, it is straightforward to allow family members to have access to the space without additional registration work.

The scheduled unlocks feature allows preschool space operators to set the doors to be open during specific windows of time, increasing the security and efficiency of the space. As Shira told us, teachers are aware of the activated members, and there is a lot of trust associated with this system.

In addition to securing the main doors, Discovery Village also has a camera system in place, and parents are able to access the footage while on site. This integration allows caregivers to see in real-time that the building is secured and their children’s safety is the main priority.

“It’s a very elegant integration, and the Kisi security is very good. Having one app handling everything is amazing”, says Shira Leibowitz.

The system’s granularity and the various access methods allow administrators to only activate access for parents or issue one-time credentials for emergency pick-ups from other family members. In situations where access needs to be revoked immediately, the automation between Kisi and Kangarootime makes it easy to change permissions.

An easy to install access control system that prioritizes security and flexibility

“During the installation process, I never felt like we were not secure. It took some tech work to get it installed, but both Kisi and Kangarootime helped us through it, and we were tended to and cared for'', says Shira Leibowitz.

Discovery Village has been open for four years, and with Shira’s heavy focus on security, Kisi continues to be the reliable solution that scales with the growing members.

In addition to Kisi’s security - Kangarootime allows Discovery Village to streamline operations, including billing, communication with families, and access.

Kangarootime has been key in enhancing the operations and communications at Discovery Village. According to Shira’s experience, it is a straightforward app to manage families and remove users from the system.

“After having bomb threats and living through dangerous situations, I’ve received lots of training from law enforcement and anti-terrorist units. Being able to secure access to your property is vital and non-negotiable to my business”, says Shira Leibowitz.

From Shira’s experience, the main problem with schools is monitoring who comes in and who comes out - Kisi does it in a very elegant, secure, and affordable way.