Visitor screening system helps assure safety at IRHS

Keeping tabs on students and faculty at a school is a task within itself, as Indian River High School Principal Mark Steele can attest. Monitoring everyone who enters and leaves the school is an even greater responsibility, but with the help of a new software program, the staff at Indian River High is hoping to better ensure safety throughout the halls and classrooms.

In November, Indian River High School became the first school in the state of Delaware to implement the Raptor Ware security system to identify those entering and leaving the building.

“In the past,” said Steele, “we would handle situations on a reactive basis. Once we knew about something, we could respond to it. Now, we’re taking a proactive course to ensure our students are safe.”

Prior to adopting the screening program, Indian River’s staff relied heavily on the position of Norman Anderson, who worked as a part-time hall monitor. Steele soon realized the difficulty that came with using hall monitors who were attempting to cover the entire facility.

“I had heard of this program being used in large schools in Pennsylvania,” he said. “With the help of Officer Hudson’s extensive research, we decided to bring the system to Indian River, and we’ve implemented Mr. Anderson as our first line of defense.”

Delaware State Police Detective and Public Safety Officer Jeffery Hudson analyzed the Raptor Ware program before Steele officially agreed to get the school on board.

“Schools are continuously asked to update their crisis-response plan, which includes the well-being of the students,” said Hudson. “We addressed the vulnerability of the school through an assessment to see if the program was appropriate for the school.”

Formed in 2002, Raptor Technologies, a Texas corporation, assembled their Vsoft Visitor Management System, a technology with the ability to instantly screen visitors of a school against a sex-offender list. Over the past nine years, the program has been utilized in 7,000 schools, across 950 school districts. More than 100 million visitors have been logged to date, with an estimated 150,000 passing through the system each day. In the 2009-2010 school year, more than 2,435 sex offenders have been identified on school properties, nationwide.

When visitors enter the school – whether to drop off a forgotten notebook, excuse a child for a doctor’s appointment or for a variety of other purposes – they are required to present Anderson with a state-issued identification card or driver’s license upon entry. Then, it is scanned against a nationwide database to assure clearance and the safety of the students.

“This is a stance we can take,” said Hudson, “so that we know who is in our schools and around the students at all times. We’re not obtaining any information that the general public doesn’t have access to. We’re just doing it in a few seconds, and running it through a program that covers the entire country at one time. The system doesn’t run your information against personal records. We don’t care about speeding tickets or any things like that. This is a way to make sure the students are safe.”

Hudson also noted that not all sex-offenders are prohibited access to school property.

The crimes of Tier II and III sex offenders are more serious in nature and, according to federal law, if convicted, such crimes are punishable by more than one year in prison. That almost always comes with a prohibition on the offender coming within a particular distance of a school or children.

Tier I sex offenders have been convicted of an offense that does not fall into the higher tiers but that can include felonies or misdemeanors. Offenders who are registered as Tier I offenders require 15 years as a registered sex offender and annual verification, although in some states, given the nature of the crime, that can be reduced to 10 years with a clean record. Typically, Tier I is generally reserved for nonviolent offenses.

At Indian River High School, once a visitor is cleared at the front check-in desk, through the Raptor Ware system, they are given a visitor pass, marked with their name, the photo from their license and a brief description of the nature of their visit.

If a visitor who appears on the sex-offender list has entered the school, appropriate procedures are taken.

“Even if the system notifies us that they could pose as a threat to the kids or are in violation, being in a school,” said Hudson, “we’re not running in there, guns blazing. The important thing is we know who’s entering our schools and when. From there, the matter will be dealt with accordingly.”

Steele added that, if deemed appropriate, even a Tier I offender may be required to be accompanied by an adult chaperone during their visit within the school.

A computerized check-in and check-out system can pinpoint a visitor’s arrival and departure at the school, and can be logged indefinitely.

“If we wanted to know every visitor that came into this school a month ago, we can look that up,” said Hudson. “The program can be used for everyone from new substitute teachers to delivery men dropping off packages or restocking vending machines. When you deal with kids, you may run into custody issues, too, especially in the elementary schools, or parents or friends of the family stopping by with cupcakes for a class. This program is simply designed to make our jobs easier and the students’ lives safer.”

A perimeter assessment was initiated, as well, assuring that, while exits around the school can be easily accessed upon departure at the end of the day, the only way to enter the school is through the front door.

“It’s nice having someone like Mr. Anderson helping us out, too,” said Steele. “He’s been with us a long time and knows the staff, and he knows what to look for.”

In addition to the scanning process, Anderson also has instant access to the dozens of cameras spaced along the ceilings and walls throughout the school.

“If he sees something or someone that looks suspicious, or a visitor who hasn’t been checked, he can notify us right away and we can address the issue,” said Steele, who added that Sussex Central High School is not far behind with the program.

“Our main goal is not to intimidate visitors,” said Hudson. “We want what’s best for the kids. Everything the scan pulls up can be accessed by absolutely anybody, on sex-offender Web sites. Each state has their own. We’re just making sure our students are safe.”

“It’s a great program to have in the schools,” said Steele. “I see this catching on, statewide, in the near future. It’s designed to let faculty and staff, and students and parents, breathe a little easier.”

For more information about the program, visit www.raptorware.com. For information about Delaware’s sex-offender registry, visit http://desexoffender.dsp.delaware.gov.