This article originally appeared on WNBJ. To view the original article, click here.
JACKSON, Tenn. – Jackson-Madison County schools believe safety is one of its core values.
With the Raptor system, it is making security one of its priorities.
“It’s a visitor identification system and management system, they come in and it scans their IDs, and it goes through a national database to see who is coming in our buildings.”
Chief support services officer Tim Gilmer explains how the Raptor system works.
It is a visitor management system that compares state-issued ID information to a database that has convicted child predators in the country.
“The way to keep your schools or anywhere safe is adding those extra layers of security that it takes to put between people that don’t need to be there, and the school community and the raptor is a system that we use that provides another layer of safety and security for us.”
The usage of the Raptor system dropped during the Covid-19 pandemic but has been reimplemented for all Jackson-Madison County schools to have this safety system.
Gilmer reports schools without the Raptor system will soon have it.
“The hardware has been ordered, and the software subscriptions have been paid for our new school that have come on that didn’t have it, so that’s just an extra layer of protection that when Dr. King came in and said safety is his number one priority, he meant it.”
The school system reports any visitor must have a valid driver’s license or state ID in order to enter a school.
All office staff members are trained and are required to turn away visitors without a valid ID.
