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ROSEVILLE — A new water tank at Roseville High School and new carpeting for younger elementary school students are planned for Roseville Community Schools.
At the Sept. 7 Roseville Community Schools Board of Education meeting, the school board approved 7-0 several new purchases. Buildings & Ground Director Joe Smith brought the recommendations to the board.
The Roseville High School water tank and installation will cost $17,200 and will replace an older water tank. The new tank was ordered from A & F Water Heater & Spa Services in Sterling Heights.
The board also approved the purchase of furniture for the Roseville High School mailroom. The purchase includes a new countertop and mailboxes for staff, as well as a new filing cabinet, storage room and new chairs for the main office. According to Smith, the amount was approximately $20,000, and the purchase was ordered through Office Express in Troy.
“The mailroom we had was pretty dated,” Smith said. “The mailroom over there needs a major renovation. We’re trying to get it back to where it looks nice.”
Also approved was the purchase of utensil packs and storage for worktables in the culinary arts addition at Roseville High School. The purchase was approximately $10,000 from Great Lakes Hotel Supply Co. in Traverse City.
In addition, Kaiser Elementary School will receive a replacement alarm system, which the board approved. The bid was for about $15,000 and will be ordered through Audio Sentry, based in Roseville.
The equipment was purchased with funds from the district’s $59 million bond issue that passed in 2018.
At the Sept. 7 meeting, the school board also approved the purchase of area carpets for kindergarten, first grade and second grade classrooms at the elementary schools. The total purchase was approximately $16,000 from School Speciality in Greenville, Wisconsin. The district is using Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER II, funds for the carpeting purchase.
Along with the new purchases, school officials recently announced that the district will be using the Raptor Visitor Management System in all the schools in an effort to strengthen campus security.
According to a letter from district Director of Technology Michael Antoine to parents, the new system will better allow school officials to screen visitors, contractors and volunteers who enter the school buildings. According to Antoine’s letter, the Raptor system will check to ensure that registered sex offenders are not entering the district’s buildings.
With the Raptor system, visitors will be asked to present a driver’s license or a state identification card to be scanned into the system when they enter a school. Staff can use another form of identification and manually enter the person’s name into the system if a driver’s license or state ID is not available.
The Raptor system then checks the visitor’s name and date of birth for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders.
“The registered sex offender database is the only official database checked by the Raptor system,” Antoine stated in the letter. “No other data from the ID is gathered or recorded, and the information is not shared with any outside agency.”
Once the entry is approved, Raptor will issue a badge that identifies the visitor, the date and the purpose for the visit. A visitor’s badge is not going to be necessary for anyone who visits any school to drop off an item in the office or pick up paperwork.
“The safety of our students is our highest priority, and the Raptor visitor management system allows us to quickly identify those that may present a danger to our students,” Antoine stated. “Thank you in advance for your understanding and your support in enhancing the school safety protocols in our district.”
According to the website raptortech.com, if a visitor is identified as a risk, instant real-time alerts are sent via text and/or email to an unlimited number of recipients — including school administrators and local police — that can be customized by building.
