Peter Simon / The Buffalo News / Buffalo, NY - 2/4/2008

Taking safety precautions to a new level, a Town of Tonawanda charter school has become the first local school to screen visitors for sexual offenses against children.

“This is just another layer of protection for our students,” said Thomas R. Lucia, director of public relations for the Charter School for Applied Technologies. “This is a very safe school, and we intend to keep it that way.”

When anyone visits Applied Technologies, that person’s driver’s license is swiped through a computer, which matches the names and birth dates with lists of sexual predators against children from 49 states. Hawaii is not included because its list does not provide enough identifying information.

If there is no match, the system prints out a white identification tag that includes the visitor’s photo and destination in the school, which is located at 2303 Kenmore Ave.

In the event there is a hit, a red tag is produced, school officials are notified immediately on cell phones and by e-mail, and a technology firm in Houston makes further checks to determine the validity of the computer match.

In response to a question from The Buffalo News, the Erie 1 Board of Cooperative Education Services surveyed local school districts and found no others that screen visitors for sexual offenses against children.

“We have not heard of any other schools in our district that have this technology,” said Candace Reimer, a BOCES spokeswoman.

The system is being used in 4,000 schools nationwide — including a high school in suburban Syracuse — and has identified about 1,100 sexual offenders, according to Raptor Technologies, the Houston firm that produced the system.

“In different parts of the country, you’ve got different attitudes,” said Allan Measom, the firm’s president and chief operating officer.

“We’re very popular in Texas and Florida.”

Applied Technologies initially approached the Houston firm to purchase software allowing it to keep better track of visitors. When school officials learned about the sexual abuse option, they decided to use that feature as well.

Carolyn Murzynowski, a parent who volunteers in the elementary school cafeteria, was issued a white tag on a recent visit, then informed by a reporter that her name had been checked against sexual abuse registers.

“I have no problem with that whatsoever,” she said. “In this day and age, you have to worry about those things. As a parent, I feel it’s great security for me.”

The system was particularly attractive to Applied Technologies because it has extensive construction projects ongoing or planned and will have many workers in and around its elementary, middle and high schools.

Visitors with sexual offense convictions will be allowed in the school if they have legitimate business, but will be escorted at all times by a school staff member.

“We’ve got to protect our children, but at the same time we can’t say: ‘You can’t come in,’ ” Lucia said. Teachers — who undergo security checks when they are hired — are not subject to screening, and neither are staff.

No matches have occurred since the school began using the system in early January, but school officials said they welcome the extra layer of security it provides.

Eileen Jaeckle, the grandparent of an Applied Technologies student, learned about the system recently when she went to school for a conference with Superintendent Efrain Martinez.

Jaeckle, who was issued a white tag, acknowledged that the checks are useful — or even necessary — but said she doesn’t like being screened during a school visit.

“Everybody’s so paranoid,” she said. “You’ve got to check this and check that. Every place you go you’ve got to show your driver’s license.”

Applied Technologies spent $8,500 this year to establish the security system in its three school offices, along with a kiosk and a mobile system. In the future, the school will pay the Houston firm fees of about $1,200 a year.