Visitors will soon have to show identification and undergo a background check to enter school buildings as part of changes being implemented by the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.
The BCSC school board on Monday received an update from Superintendent Jim Roberts on the implementation of steps involving safety and security that are scheduled to be completed soon.
Roberts told the board that Northside Middle School piloted a background check management system known as Safe Visitor last week that will be in place at all school buildings by Friday. That will require visitors to show identification such as a driver’s license that will be run to determine whether an individual is a sex offender, Roberts said.
Columbus North High School also has the system in place, Roberts said.
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Here’s how the system will work.
When a visitor presses an intercom button within the school vestibule, an administrative assistant in the main office will inquire who they are and the purpose of their visit. The visitor would then be let into the office to provide a driver’s license or other government-issued identification that would be scanned by someone in the office to see whether the visitor is on the national sex offender registry.
Once a visitor receives approval, he or she would be provided a printed badge with photo to wear while in the school, said Brett Boezeman, BCSC director of operations.
“The whole process takes less than 30 seconds,” Boezeman said.
BCSC plans to have all vestibules ready to use by today, he said.
In addition, Roberts also said the district is preparing to distribute employee badges to staff members that will have an individual’s photo on them, which should be ready within 10 days.
Those badges will allow individuals to enter their respective school buildings through locked doors, he said. The district has spent about $70,000 tied to the safety and security improvements across the school corporation, he said.
Further safety and security steps are being evaluated, Roberts said.
“Each day, we see what we can do better,” he said.
The changes that have been made are meant to ensure that the district is meeting the challenge of safety and security while maintaining a safe environment, Roberts said.
“I commend (the school board) for their patience and making sure we have a more safe and secure environment than we had before,” the superintendent said after the meeting.
Parent Stephanie Studley, who addressed the school board during the meeting, criticized the district for not communicating a threat made Aug. 7 by a student at Columbus North the day before the start of the school year.
Studley requested transparency from the school board, saying that it should provide parents with necessary information.
“Why not utilize the social media outlets you already have?” she asked. “I should not have to learn about threats through the newspaper.”
Board members did not publicly respond to Studley’s comments. But BCSC school board member Robert Abrams said after the meeting that law enforcement determined the threat wasn’t a legitimate one.
“We don’t want to get into a situation that every threat, bad action perceived as a threat is communicated,” Abrams said.
However, he did say if the threat was a real one, “it needs to be known quickly and widely.”
“There has to be a balance with what’s a real concern,” Abrams said.
Abrams said he supports the district’s progress tied to safety and security improvements.
“We’re learning it as we go,” he said. “The facility improvements that have been put in place are very positive. It’s a fine balance between creating an overriding fear of everything we’re doing at schools and what the real concerns are.”
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A background check management system that will require visitors to show photo identification should be in place at all schools by Friday.
Employee badges distributed to staff members allowing them access to their respective buildings should be in place within 10 days.
Vestibules equipped with an intercom button requiring visitors to speak to someone in the main office before they can enter the building should be in place across the school corporation by today.
Source: Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.
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Public school enrollment up slightly at two local school districts. See story on Page A3.
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