How to Make Schools Safer With A School Visitor Check-In System

It was a call that no parent wants to get – even a parent who is a seasoned retired policeman who also happens to lead a national safety company.  But the call came through.  

There was an intruder alert at my son’s school – just two weeks into the new school year.  However, much to my relief, it ended up being a “safe” person after-all.  

Yet, the alert jarred me.  And, to be completely honest, it upset me.  

I was mad that my child, as well as all the other students and teachers, had to be frightened and go through lockdown procedures (not knowing immediately that it would end up being a “safe” person).  

I was mad about something else too – my son’s school had an old “buzzer” entry system that didn’t even have a camera!  

The Lack Of School Visitor Check-In Systems

Out of curiosity, I investigated if any other schools had an intruder alert in this, the beginning of the school year.  

I was shocked to see that ALL but five states in our country had either an intruder alert or a threat of school violence in the first two weeks of the new school year!  

And, just as troubling, I found out that the majority of public schools in our nation have nothing more than an antiquated “buzzer” entry system – some with a camera and some without.

This is unacceptable in a nation that has the most technologically advanced security systems available in the world.

The Importance Of A School Visitor Check-In System

 The fact that a school visitor check-in system is missing in most schools today in our nation is profoundly alarming.  

The right visitor management system (VMS) and school visitor check-in system serve as a preventative tool to identify threats of potential danger and violence and to help ensure school security.

In fact, a full-service school visitor check-in system can integrate with student information systems for a primary goal of safety while also streamlining and improving front-office efficiency. 

Click here to join us for one of our SafeVisitor weekly demos.

As a 25-year veteran policeman and specialist in violent crime prevention, I started Safe Visitor Solutions to create SAFE PUBLIC SPACES – especially ensuring that our schools would have the best security systems that technology and experience could provide.  

How School Visitor Check-In Systems Work

While our political parties argue about how to keep our schools safe, my company continues to encourage school administrations to make sure they have prioritized the safety of their students, teachers, and staff by replacing antiquated entry systems to school check-in kiosks that are:

• Reducing unexpected/unknown visitors

• Providing a comprehensive background check/screening process and system.

• Initiating pre-registration for low-risk visitors for conducting business meetings.

• Instituting geofencing

• Excluding parties

• Conducting national sex offender searches

• Deploying school check-in kiosks with a scanner

We must all work together to keep our schools, our children, our teachers, and our very system of education safe and secure.

If you would like to learn more about how to use a visitor management system, like a school visitor check-in system, join us for one of our SafeVisitor weekly demos or set up a personal demo.

What Is the Best School Visitor Management System?

Selecting the best school visitor management system is not a simple matter.  Over the years I have worked with schools that have a wide variety of needs and concerns when implementing a visitor management system:

·        Saving time for front office personnel

·        Finding an integrated solution that allows electronic student check in/out

·        Kiosk models so the visitor does all the work

If you are looking for a visitor management system (VMS) to simply improve the efficiency of the front office, then you really don’t need to read any further because I am going to focus on the core components of a VMS from a risk-management perspective. I have spent the past 25 years in risk management. I started as a Violent Crime Detective with a large metropolitan police department. I also served as a Violence Prevention Consultant for organizations such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Justice.  For the past 13 years, I’ve worked as the Founder and CEO of Safe Hiring Solutions and SafeVisitor.  I have witnessed violence up close and personal and it has shaped my perspective and priorities for keeping people and organizations safe.

Now this does not mean that a visitor management system cannot have integrations with student information systems or other applications for that much needed efficiency.  We do that with our SafeVisitor system.  However, SHS never loses its focus of the foundation of what we are doing i.e.  keeping you and your students safe.

I have a unique perspective as a former detective, and I strongly feel that what I offer that is most valuable to school administrators, is my depth of understanding concerning violent criminals and their methods. I know they can be expected to attempt to enter schools by any means possible e.g. applying for jobs, serving as volunteers, or becoming trusted frequent vendors.

At Safe Hiring Solutions, we have conducted more than 700,000 background checks for schools over the past 13 years. 

Just recently, we flagged an existing school employee who was applying with a new school district.  He had a case of sexual exploitation as well as a substantiated case with the Department of Child Services for child neglect. This man has been teaching for several years.

On a monthly basis, we flag sex offenders that are trying to access schools.  Offenders who harm children are constantly seeking access to children.  Schools are defenseless against these predators without comprehensive risk management solutions.

So when SHS talks about visitor management systems, we are always focused on keeping people who would harm children out of our schools and away from our children. Surprisingly, the majority of organizations I enter each week, schools and non-schools alike, do not have a single tool for managing their flow of visitors beyond a self-disclosing clip board.

The first step in protecting your school, students, and employees is to create a safe perimeter.  Paul Dvorak, SafeVisitor Advisory Board Member and Secret Service Special Agent in Charge of Indianapolis Office, has helped us better understand how critical a safe perimeter is when protecting dignitaries such as the President of the United States.

A school needs to create a safe perimeter between entering the building and visitors.  A clip board on the front office desk is not a safe perimeter.  The safe perimeter has already been breached just by being at the front desk

A self-service kiosk in the lobby is no better than a clipboard.  It does provide a false sense of security that comes with using technology, but there are still a couple of problems:

1.      They are already in your lobby, and

2.      How do you know they are who they register as?

How does SafeVisitor approach perimeter security?

• Reduce Unexpected/Unknown Visitors.  We work closely with schools to classify their visitors.  Who are they?  Most visitors fall into a category of parent volunteers, partner volunteers, vendors/ contractors, student teachers, and business associates of administrators.  When you work through this list, it becomes apparent that the vast majority of visitors to a school are neither unclassified nor unexpected.

• Comprehensive Background Checks.  Frequent visitors such as volunteers, vendors, student teachers, and substitutes should submit to a comprehensive background check before receiving clearance to enter the school.  The background check can also be set on a renewal interval of every 2, 3, or 4 years.

• Business Meetings.  Most business meetings are scheduled in advance.  The VMS should accommodate pre-registration for business meetings or low-risk visitors that are not having direct or ongoing contact with students.  Pre-registration allows the visitor to be pre-vetted against an “excluded parties list” and the National Sex Offender Database.

• GeoFence.  SafeVisitor can create a perimeter around each school building, so that all approved visitors can download a mobile app and activate their ID.  As they cross the geofence, it sends their information to the front office computers for review and verification before buzzing them into the building.

• Excluded Parties. Each school can create a list of excluded parties based on their own policies.  Anybody on the list attempting to enter the building or grounds will trigger and alert law enforcement, administers, or designated security.

• National Sex Offender Search.  Schools have the option of running a National Sex Offender Search every time a visitor enters one of their buildings.  Even previously approved visitors who have passed a comprehensive background check can have things happen between visits. This process will flag them.

• Kiosk with Scanner.  Self-service kiosks do little to improve security.  Used appropriately, a kiosk is best deployed in a vestibule between the doors and requires the visitor to scan in with their SafeVisitor ID or government issued ID.

If you would like a deeper discussion and demonstration on how to use a visitor management system, join us for one of our SafeVisitor weekly demos or setup a personal demo.