Sex-offender checks in schools

Comments

 SEE HOW THIS STORY DEVELOPED

EMAIL STORY

PRINT STORY

» 367 days ago: Sex-offender checks in schools «

(Courtesy, Prince William County Public Schools)
Prince William County Public Schools is implementing a new electronic Visitor Identification System (VIS) in all schools. Effective December 3, when a visitor arrives at school, he/she will be required to provide a valid government-issued ID which is held until the visitor signs out. The system replaces a notebook log maintained in school offices. Shown here is a school administrator scanning an ID at the school's reception desk.

The computerized system runs each visitor against state-run offender databases nationwide to keep track of who visits students.

"This gives us an instant check on whether or not somebody coming into a school, be it a parent, an offender, what have you, is in a national database," incoming school board Chairman Milton Johns said.

The new computerized system, which costs $130,000 to start and about $37,000 each year, has been used on three campuses since a pilot program began in the spring.

It will replace the notebook log at the principals' offices in all 86 schools.

Parents concerned about how the new system will operate have been calling their schools, said Ron Crowe, administrative coordinator of security services.

"When you walk in, they run your driver's license through a scanner the size of a hand-held stapler. It takes your name and date of birth and runs it against the sex-offender databases in every state and would look for a match," he said.

Photos will be used to compare people with identical names and birthdays.

If a parent with a legitimate educational reason for being on the campus has a hit on the database, the school staff will take extra caution and restrict him or her to the office area, Crowe said.

Adults without identification cards will be checked and accommodated, he said.

The immigration status of someone visiting a school will not be scrutinized when the program takes effect, but it is not clear if those checks can be instituted in the future.

"I want to make sure we have a system that is effective and efficient, but yet one that will not unnecessarily separate parents from their children," Johns said.

dgenz@dcexaminer.com