School safety and communication with parents continue to be a priority for GCPS. “As a school district, we have a responsibility to ensure that our schools are safe and secure for our students, staff, and visitors,” says Dr. Al Taylor, GCPS associate superintendent for School Improvement and Operations, citing both new safety initiatives and the use of “tried and true strategies,” including the district’s School Resource Officer program.
Safety measures include:
Rollout of Raptor tool to screen school visitors against national sex offender database.
Expansion of surveillance cameras in our high school stadiums.
92 School Resources Officers (SROs)—two SROs at every high school, one SRO at every middle school, and several located at elementary schools. In addition to policing campuses, SROs focus on educating students and staff on safety issues and working with school administrators on school safety plans.
Confidential Tip Line—770-822-6513—that allows users to call or text information on school safety.
SchoolMessenger, used to notify staff and families of emergencies, school closings, and other school information. (Messages from GCPS come from the number 1-844-248-6644.)
“We believe that a balanced combination of proactive and responsive safety measures such as these help us stay focused on our core business, teaching and learning,” says Dr. Taylor.
Raptor strengthens visitor management at schools
This fall, GCPS schools will begin using a new tool called Raptor to strengthen the visitor management process at the school level. Raptor enables staff at each school building to screen all adult visitors against the National Sex Offender Registry and establishes a consistent sign-in process across the district. Starting the week of Aug. 16, the Raptor Visitor Management System will go online in high schools. Elementary schools will begin using it the first week of September and it will launch in middle schools two weeks later.
Here's how Raptor works…
During school hours, the entrance for visitors is restricted to designated doors near the office, which are locked until the visitor is granted access. To notify school staff of their arrival, visitors push the bell button on the visitor management panel found outside the main entrance door. Once “buzzed in,” visitors proceed directly to the front desk in the lobby to check in.
At that time, adult visitors entering the building for the first time this year will go through the new check-in process. Office personnel will request a visitor’s driver’s license or other state-issued ID, comparing information to a national sex offender database, alerting school administrators if a match is found, or issuing a detailed visitor badge if the person is cleared.
The visitor’s license or other state-issued ID will be scanned or manually entered into the system. If a visitor does not have a U.S. government-issued ID, the school staff member can use any form of identification and manually enter the person’s name into the system. The system will check to see if the visitor’s name and date of birth is on a national database of registered sex offenders. (Note that the registered sex offender database is the only official database checked by the Raptor system.)
Once entry is approved, the visitor will receive a badge that identifies the visitor, the date, and the purpose of his or her visit. (A visitor’s badge will not be necessary for those who visit our schools simply to drop off an item in the office or pick up paperwork.)