The Knox Community School Corporation will soon require visitors to have a state-issued ID to enter one of the buildings during school hours. The school corporation will be putting its Raptor system in place after fall break, according to Superintendent Dr. William Reichhart.
He told the school board last week that the machine will scan visitors’ identification cards. “It will then do a quick, I think it’s a 30-second-to-one-minute check, to see if you’re a sexual predator or have been convicted of that,” Reichhart explained. “If you have, it’s going to give us an alert that we will know that immediately. That will prevent that person from going any further into our building. If it doesn’t, it will print out a visitor’s badge, and it will have the date on it.”
Reichhart does expect that there may be a few exceptions, though. “If you come to the door without an official ID, we will meet them at the door – for instance, they might be dropping off a book bag or dropping off medication,” he explained. “But if they don’t have that official ID, they will not be allowed to enter the building without that. Now, UPS man – we’ll have exceptions – regular vendors who we recognize. They will not have to go through the Raptor system each time.”
Reichhart said it will cost about $7,500 to install the system in all three buildings. School officials are hoping to get enough money from the “spirit pump” campaign at Zingo BP in Knox to cover that cost.
Reichhart told board members that the Raptor system is just one step in Knox Schools’ safety efforts. Secured entries that will physically require visitors to pass through the office before entering a building are planned, as part of the school corporation’s upcoming building project.
