Tippecanoe Valley Introduces Raptor Security
MENTION — It’s not a dinosaur, but it should be a pretty good security system anyway. Tippecanoe Valley School board approved the increase use of security, introducing the Raptor Visitor Management System at the Tippy Valley School Board meeting Monday night, Sept. 11, at Mentone Elementary School.
The Raptor System is “a computer kiosk system in the office that when you come in and you’re going to go into the student population of our building…(that scans a license and does) a quick check of several databases to make sure you aren’t a risk to (the) kids,” explained TVMS principal Scott Backus.
Four years ago, Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation took steps in improving its protection of its students. Valley redesigned all of its entry system, forcing visitors to sign in at the office for visits, when it first looked at security. Now, the security team believes Raptor is the best next step in security, finding “a lot of neighboring schools use systems similar to this.”
The new system will run visitors through various different databases, alerting office administration to any risks prior to the visitors entrance. Along with the pre-established databases, Valley will be able to also to set up our own monitoring list if we had people we were concerned about” such as “red flaging somebody who has been an issue just so if we need to escort them through a building,” according to Backus.
Backus stated that the goal is for Raptor to provide “another layer of security to make sure we are protecting the kids in the building.” The system was partially funded by the School Homeland Security Safety Grant, covering half of the cost of the system while Valley covered the other $4,100. “It’s like what we always say at the school safety committee meeting,” said Backus. “If it protects one kid from someone coming in and doing something wrong, $4,100 isn’t a lot to spend on that.”
While officials can see alerts on their computer screens when visitors enter, the system has an emergency button installed, allowing a silent message to alert school security. According to the press release, the Raptor Visitor Management System has “identified and alerted officials to more than 50,000 sex offenders attempting to enter schools and 250,000 custody alerts.” The system will only be active during school hours.
In other news:
- TVSC revealed a plaque in front of old Bald Cypress tree in front of Mentone Elementary.
- The naming of the football field was presented for the second time officially. One more meeting will occur on Sept. 18 for the public to voice their stance before the Board votes on the decision.
- Greg Prater was named TVHS head baseball coach.
- Schools present ISTEP results and goals for the school year.
- The board began discussion on the 2018-19 school budget.