Idaho's largest school district adds security measures

MERIDIAN, Idaho (CBS 2) — Students and visitors to West Ada School District will see new security measures when classes begin on Monday.

The visitor management system is new to all 55 school buildings in the West Ada district.

When visitors arrive, they present their drivers license or other official ID.

That card is entered into what's called Raptor Tech.

The new system runs a mini background check, primarily to make sure the visitor is not on the National Sex Offender Registry List.

That would prohibit their presence in a school under state law.

Once that step is cleared, out pops a badge.

"They ask you where in the building you're going to go," said West Ada spokesman Eric Exline. "All that information's recorded, it prints out a visitor badge with your picture on it and now the school knows who is in the building and whey're they're going."

What's also new is the district-wide access control card.

They began using it last year at West Ada high schools.

Now they've expanded it to middle schools as well.

It's pretty simple: students and staff have a special card they use at access control readers,

"They just swipe the card," Exline said. "The door opens and in they come. It's a way to keep anybody off of campus that isn't part of the school community without knowing who they are."

The security measures are funded through money from a previous school levy.