Va. Beach schools abandon visitor screening system - The Virginian-Pilot
VIRGINIA BEACH
Budget restraints have forced school division officials to scrap a plan to install security software that would have screened school visitors divisionwide against a national database of registered sex offenders.
The system was tested at three school buildings in the spring, winning praise from some parents and drawing the ire of others who argued the background checks were intrusive and unnecessary.
"We tried it out, and although it was successful and fairly well received, we were not in a position to expand it to all our schools," said Melissa McQuarrie, director of community relations. "It just wasn't in the budget for us."
Installing and running the Raptor Technologies security system - which scans visitor IDs and then alerts school officials if the person appears on a national list of offenders - would have cost the division $120,000 the first year and $36,288 each year after that.
McQuarrie said she would like the school system to revisit the idea.
"I think it's a valuable service," she said.
A growing number of schools have hired private companies to run sophisticated background checks on visitors in an effort to ferret out sex offenders. In Virginia, sex offenders are by law generally barred from entering schools.
Opponents have argued that such checks do little to deter crime.
"It's worth asking how often someone has actually accessed a school to commit a crime against a child," said Jim Harper of the libertarian Cato Institute. "I'm guessing the answer is, not very often."
The Raptor system flagged one registered sex offender during its four months in operation at three Beach schools this spring, McQuarrie said.
A pizza delivery man with a record of sexual misconduct was ordered to leave Larkspur Middle School when he attempted to drop off pizzas for a classroom function. The man was not charged, school officials said.
A similar security system was installed at all Chesapeake public school buildings at the start of last school year. To date, the system hasn't flagged any sex offenders, division spokesman Tom Cupitt said. But that doesn't mean the system hasn't deterred potential predators from stepping into a school building, he said.
"It's another layer of security," Cupitt said. "And it's very popular with parents."
Mike Hixenbaugh, (757) 222-5117, mike.hixenbaugh@pilotonline.com
12 Sep, 2011--
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHPdFzYdBRzwWPMc4AKQfIbbZB8Cw&url=http://hamptonroads.com/2011/09/va-beach-schools-abandon-visitor-screening-system
~
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com
