Evelyn Trampe
Business Manager
Webster Groves School District will implement a new check-in system, to provide better security to students and staff on Jan. 3.
From the 1999 Columbine shooting, which killed 21 people, to the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, which killed 27 people, school shootings have become highly publicized and have forced schools across the nation to constantly reevaluate their policies and procedures.
The centerpiece of the new plan is a system from Raptor technologies that will, “improve safety for students and staff by screening visitors, contractors and volunteers at all school buildings,” assistant superintendent for human resources, Sandy Wiley, said in an email to parents.
Once this $1,600 per school system is in place, all visitors will be asked to present identification, and then this system will match visitor’s identification against a national database, “and it then provides information to the receptionist in regards to any legal issues that would call for a person not to be inside the school,” assistant principal Shiree Yeggins said.
If there were to be a match, the school administrative assistant would be immediately alerted, and an alert would also be texted to all of the administrators in the building as well as the human resources officer. With the safety of the students being the “highest priority” with this new system, schools have a “quick and efficient way to identify anyone who might present a danger to students,” Wiley said.
About why this new system is important, Yeggins said, “Because our work is changing, society is changing, and our students are one of our most precious gifts here at the high school, and we really value our staff as well. So as long as we continue to try and find opportunities to improve safety, I think we should utilize them.”
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