This article originally appeared on KSBY, an NBC affiliate based out of Santa Barbara, California, and it was written by Brooke Martell. To view the original article, click here.
SANTA BARBARA, CA – The Paso Robles Joint Unified School District is using a new sign-in system aimed to increase safety and protect students and staff on campus.
The visitor sign-in system is keeping registered sex offenders away from schools within the district. District officials said the $15,000 system has been in the nine schools within the district for more than a month.
Each first-time visitor has his or her government-issued ID card scanned, which only takes about eight seconds. Within those eight seconds, the information on the ID card goes out to the National Sex Offender database to verify if the person is in the database. If there is no link to the database, a badge with the visitor’s name and picture is printed and they are allowed to enter the campus. The Chief Human Resource Officer with Paso Robles Joint Unified School District, Frank Panian, says the system is quick and easy to notify authorities if a registered sex offender tries to enter the campus.
“It also has an option for an emergency button on it and you can push it, and within that eight seconds we have dispatch and Paso notified, we have the district notified and the administration and all the sites notified,” Panian said.
Parents are happy to see the new system in schools. Stephanie Walker has two kids at Pat Butler Elementary School in Paso Robles. She said she couldn’t be happier something like this has come along.
“Right now our campus is open and so there are individuals walking around,” Walker said. “So as a parent, I feel really secure they’re checking into the office and that they’re able to monitor the individuals on campus.”
Erika Tidwell, a secretary at Pat Butler Elementary School says the sign-in system is making it convenient for parents, too. She says there’s more immediacy so it’s quicker for parents and volunteers to join the classroom.
Officials from the school district said the visitor sign-in system was implemented after an employee spoke up and said a similar system was used at the school district where he previously worked.
KSBY also reached out to Santa Maria-Bonita School District, Lucia Mar Unified School District and San Luis Coastal School District. All three districts said there are no plans at this time to implement a visitor sign-in system like the one within Paso Robles Joint Unified School District.
