News and Information

Schools will screen for sex offenders
New visitor log, cameras among planned upgrades
By RYAN BAGWELL, Staff Writer, Capital Newspaper, Annapolis, MD

April 3, 2007 – County school officials have purchased a visitor sign-in log that checks names against national lists of registered sex offenders.

The $303,000 deal will put the Vsoft system in every middle and high school starting in the fall, school system spokesman Bob Mosier said.

"It's a way to make sure that people who are in those schools ... don't have a past that indicates they could pose a risk for children," Mr. Mosier said. "If you've got a volunteer who's a sex offender, obviously that creates an issue."

Equipment will scan a visitor's photo ID and record the picture, name and date of birth. It'll print a visitor's badge with their picture and name after checking for matches on lists of registered sex offenders in 49 states.

The Web-based system will replace a patchwork of computer programs that many schools use to log visitors. They're not connected to a central database, don't screen for sex offenders and most don't take visitors' photos.

Some schools still use old-fashioned paper and pencil methods of logging parents and other visitors who come to school.

School board Vice President Eugene Peterson supports the new system.

"We have this in other environments since 9/11," Mr. Peterson said. "We're not asking for DNA, so I think that's fine."

Administrators wanted a similar visitor system last year. But former county executive Janet S. Owens cut the $450,000 initiative from the budget and the matter was scraped.

Now school officials are giving it another shot, fueled by a $54,000 federal grant. They want to roll out the system to the rest of the county's 118 schools over the next three years.

"From school to school, no matter where you work or where you go, it will all be treated the same," said Bob Yatsuk, a project manager with the Office of School Security.

The grant also will pay to install the system in six private schools: St. Mary's Elementary in Annapolis; Calvary Chapel Christian Academy in Severn; St. Jane Frances School in Pasadena; St. John the Evangelist School in Severna Park; St. Paul's Lutheran School in Glen Burnie and St. Philip Neri School in Linthicum.

Administrators also will use the system to keep track of the hours parents spend volunteering in schools. They've been pushing to increase parent involvement on their campuses.

The visitor tracking system is one of two major security initiatives school officials unveiled last week

A separate $1.5 million contract school board members are expected to approve tomorrow would pay for surveillance cameras in nine more schools.

Broadneck, Chesapeake, Northeast and Severna Park high schools will get the cameras over the next fiscal year, Mr. Yatsuk said, along with Bates and Old Mill North middle schools, Crofton Meadows Elementary and the Phoenix Center in Annapolis for emotionally disturbed children.

The cameras keep tabs on hallways and other common areas. They broadcast pictures over the Internet and can be viewed by any computer in the school system's network.

The latest deal would arm almost every county high school with cameras and bring the total number of schools with the systems to 25, Mr. Yatsuk said.

Officials want to put the cameras in every middle and high school.