Steadfast Schools is a Freedom Tech company, founded by two active North Carolina law enforcement officers who've spent their careers where technology has to work under pressure. We built Steadfast to give schools what we'd want for our own communities: a system that acts before, not explains after.
A retired U.S. Army Special Operations veteran who served in Psychological Operations, Leo spent his career planning operations, working intelligence, and leading teams under pressure.
Today he is a criminal investigator with the Harnett County Sheriff's Office, working cases involving digital evidence, surveillance technology, and intelligence analysis. He knows firsthand what works in the field, and what doesn't.
Born and raised in Harnett County near Fort Bragg, Matt founded Freedom Tech in 2010. He leads technology strategy and solution design across IT, cybersecurity, communications, and physical security.
He is an active deputy and field training officer with the Harnett County Sheriff's Office, where he trains new deputies. He brings a responder's view to every system he designs: it has to work in the real world, for the people depending on it.
Dear school leader,
We're Leo Castellanos and Matt Jones. Between us, we've spent our careers in two places where "good enough" isn't: in uniform, and in the technology that people depend on when it counts.
Leo served in U.S. Army Special Operations, then joined the Harnett County Sheriff's Office, where he works today as a criminal investigator. Matt grew up in Harnett County near Fort Bragg, founded Freedom Tech in 2010, and serves with the same sheriff's office as an active deputy and field training officer, preparing new deputies for the road. We both still answer the call.
That work teaches you something hard. By the time a call comes in, the most important minutes are often already gone. Most school security systems are built to record what happened, and too often the first time anyone carefully watches the video is after something has gone wrong. We started Steadfast Schools because we believe our children deserve a system built to act before, not explain after.
This is personal for us. These are the schools in the communities where we live and serve: the classrooms, ball fields, and car lines filled with our neighbors' kids. Every parent who drops a child off in the morning is trusting that someone is watching out for them. We want that trust to be well placed, before the first bell and long after the last one.
Steadfast is simple at its core. Let technology watch everything at once. Let trained people decide what's real. Get the right information to the right responders in seconds, 24 hours a day, and not just during the school day. And do it in a way your board and your parents can stand behind: no cameras in private spaces, data that belongs to you, and rules that you set.
We wrote this guide to share what we've learned. You'll find stories from a Steadfast campus, a self-check you can walk with your team, and the questions we'd want any vendor to answer, including us. Use it whether or not you ever work with us.
If we can help, call us. We'll walk your campus with you and give you an honest look at where the gaps are.
Standing with you,
Steadfast is delivered by Freedom Technology Partners, the North Carolina company behind Freedom Tech, which has designed, secured, and supported technology for businesses, government, and public safety since 2010.
An in-house Network & Security Operations Center monitoring networks, cybersecurity, video, access control, and LPR.
The same team installs your cameras, secures your network, and keeps both running, so nothing falls between vendors.
Freedom Tech is SAM.gov registered (UEI TEY1A2JVKDC3, CAGE 24C48) and works with Verkada and Ubiquiti UniFi platforms.
Our free guide to proactive campus safety, with a letter from our founders, stories from a Steadfast campus, and tools you can use with your team this week.
Book a no-cost campus safety assessment. We'll walk your site with you and show you where 24/7 monitoring would make the biggest difference.