Visitors heading to any school in the Ken-Ton District will now use a machine where they show their ID, get it scanned and a badge will be generated.
- New security system installed in Ken-Ton schools
- "Raptor" system tells if visitors are on National Sex Offender Registry
- After good trial run, it's now in every school in the district
It seems like standard procedure, but this system — called the “Raptor system” — goes a step further: it will also screen visitors against the National Sex Offender Registry, alerting staff if the person is on the registry or not, or is prohibited from being on school grounds.
For Kathleen Parker, who monitors the 1,600 students and hundreds of visitors who enter and leave Kenmore West High School every day, her job is made it a lot easier.
"There is alertness to who is in the building. The system tells me who's in the building or who shouldn't be in the building, which in our day and age is imperative. If someone calls down and says, ‘so-and-so’s parents happened to come into the building today for a meeting. Was this parent in the building?’ I have all that right here," said Parker.
It’s all a part of a two-part project. Last year, the district established a single point of entry in all nine buildings to more easily monitor who's coming in and out. Now, this management system is the second.
This past January, Raptor was tested in four schools in the district: Holmes Elementary School, Franklin Elementary School, Franklin Middle School and Kenmore West High School. After a good trial run, it's now at every school. It's something the assistant superintendent says will make schools much safer.
"Given the climate recently in public schools, we wanted to add that additional level of security. It's too bad we have to be in this kind of society and deal with these issues, but we want to be proactive and implement this in our district," said John Brucato, assistant superintendent for finance.
The badge is printed with temporary ink, so your photo will disappear after a few hours.