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Electronic sentinels now guard many Roanoke Valley schools

The county and city have both installed systems that read visitors' identification cards.

REBECCA BARNETT | The Roanoke Times

Donna Simmons uses Lobby Guard, the new system that has been installed at Roanoke County schools, to gain access to Northside High School. Simmons said this was her first time using the system. “I like it for the security of the kids here,” she said.

REBECCA BARNETT | The Roanoke Times

The Lobby Guard asks for visitors to put a photo ID into the system. In Roanoke County the system runs a visitor’s ID photo through a national sex offender registry before printing out a visitor’s badge and letting the visitor into the school.

REBECCA BARNETT | The Roanoke Times

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New sign-in procedures

When visitors come into schools they’ll scan their photo IDs into the system — called Easy Lobby for city schools and Lobby Guard at the county schools. After the name is logged, the system prints a visitor’s badge with the person’s photo, name and reason for being in the school. The badge also has a bar code, which is used when signing out.

Annie McCallum | 981-3227

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Visitors to many Roanoke Valley schools are now being asked to bring a driver’s license to gain entry .

The valley’s two largest school systems have new sign-in procedures for visitors this school year, which include swiping the picture ID cards before entering the hallways.

In Roanoke County the visitor’s identification will be run against a national sex offender registry and the visit will be logged . In Roanoke an ID dropped through a card reader will record the visitor’s name and address and log the visit.

School officials said the new procedures are about keeping children safe. They reflect a nationwide focus on school safety in the wake of the mass killings of children and staff at a Connecticut elementary school last year.

Local school officials said they want to monitor who is in their buildings and have a uniform process for visitors at all schools. Previously, the practices varied by school . Officials from both school divisions also said that not having an ID won’t keep parents out of schools.

“You want to know at all times who is in your building and what is their purpose for being there,” Roanoke Deputy Superintendent Curt Baker said. “That is at the heart of what we’re doing here.”

The system in Roanoke, which launched Tuesday, was a recommendation from an annual safety audit and will be paid for mostly by grant funds.

The governor’s office announced Tuesday that $6 million is being given to 86 school divisions across the state to improve safety and security, including $100,000 to Roanoke. The new visitor system cost about $132,000.

Baker said the preference is for visitors to city schools to bring a driver’s license when they come to school, but they can bring another picture ID.

“In any school we should not be admitting individuals that we do not know and can’t confirm their identity,” Baker said, adding that has always been the system’s policy.

City school system spokesman Justin McLeod said people without a picture ID won’t be denied entry.

“The process will take a little bit longer,” he said.

When visitors come into city schools, they’ll be buzzed through to the office where they will use the new system, which is called Easy Lobby.

“You dip the driver’s license into a reader,” Baker explained, “and it captures the information as to who that individual is.”

From there a visitor’s badge is printed with the person’s photo, name and reason for being in the school. The badge also has a bar code, which is read when the visitor signs out. The badge also will be given a supplemental sticker that changes color when the visitor’s time in the building expires, making it impossible to reuse old badges.

Baker said the Roanoke school system is not currently running names against any databases.

In Roanoke County, schools are using a similar system, called Lobby Guard, which does check names against the national sex offender registry. The system uses a driver’s license and anyone without an ID will be asked to enter their name and date of birth.

The county system also generates a badge with a picture and bar code, used to sign out.

“Now when anyone is in the building we can identify who they are and why they are in the building,” said Marty Misicko, the school system’s director of operations.

The county’s new system launched on Aug. 27, the system’s first day of classes. It is part of a broader effort to bolster school security, which school system officials reviewed in the aftermath of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December.

For instance, this year all exterior doors are numbered so first responders can easily find their way in the event of an emergency. Storefronts have been added or are being constructed at schools. Last spring the county school system also installed buzzer entry systems at all schools.

The installation of the new visitor system in Roanoke County was part of a larger, $1.25 million contract officials negotiated this spring, which outfitted all the school system’s buildings with new electronic card access.

“Everyone within our school system has either employee identification or visitor’s ID,” Misicko said. “We should not have any adults walking through the school without some sort of pass.”

Officials from both school divisions said so far the biggest challenge with the new entry procedures has been simply getting school guests used to the new process.

“Initially it has been a new paradigm for parents to get used to,” Misicko said. “After a week things are settling into place.”

Saturday, September 14, 2013