Wake County Schools launches new visitor management system that runs background check upon entry

The new system screens visitors’ backgrounds and will take effect Wednesday, ahead of the July 11 school start date for some year-round students.

“It’s going to be a culture shift," said District Director of Special Operations Kendrick Scott at the Board of Education's safety and security committee meeting.

The committee met briefly to discuss the new system before going into closed session to discuss school violence prevention planning.

People used to walking in schools without checking will be required to do so.

Parents and guardians will receive information from their schools on how the system will be implemented at the school, district spokeswoman Lisa Luten said, and the district’s website will have an overview.

All visitors to the school will need to be screened in the new system, which checks for recent custody orders, protection orders and sex offender registries.

Verkada documents all visitor data, so administrators can search visitor data and pull specific records, including a photo, documents and other information. The software supports faster searches and more accessible data that can be easily exported into shareable formats.

Bookkeepers, receptionists, data managers and others will be among the employees receiving training on how to use the system, which will be housed near each school’s administrative offices. If the system’s hardware isn’t working, those administrative employees would manually check in visitors on their own computers.

"What we're trying to accomplish here is consistency across the district," said Wake County Public School System Office of Security Senior Director Russ Smith. "The person working the desk may not know that a person is not allowed to be on there. But when they sign in, this thing will alert us to the fact that that person is not supposed to be on campus."

This upcoming school year, visitors to all Wake County schools and two system administration buildings will be required to sign in on an iPad and create an account for the school containing information about them. Software will then run a background check on the visitor. If the visitor passes the check, they will get a printed visitor sticker to wear in the building. If the visitor is flagged, a collection of school employees will be notified, likely via text message, and the visitor will not be given a pass to enter the building.

Principals can choose who will be on the list of notified administrators, Scott said. Board Member Sam Hershey urged the school system to request that all school resource officers be included on their schools’ lists.

“I think that should be system wide,” Hershey said, just before the board entered closed session.

If the visitor returns to the school another day, they won’t need to create an account again; they can sign in, scan their ID or enter their name, and the software will once again conduct a background check.

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The new technology coincides with an updated visitor policy that require visitors to submit to the background checks and be chaperoned throughout their visit to the school, among other things.

Volunteers, who already must pass background checks, would not need to be escorted throughout the school.

First responders would not need to use the visitor management system before entering the building.

"I think it's a good thing, more security," said parent Reggie Davis. "Nobody can just walk into the building whenever they feel like it. Given the climate and what's going on the in world, keep the kids safe."