Brooklyn Center Schools Start New Security Measures for All Visitors
Brooklyn Center Community Schools recently implemented new security measures for anyone who visits a school building as it tries to improve and enhance the ways the district can keep students and staff safe.
All visitors must now present a state-issued photo ID at the front office. When the staff member scans that ID through a device, the person’s name is checked against a national child sex offender database.
“Once a person is approved to enter the building, the system prints out a visitor badge that they can stick on as they enter the building,” said John Huber, who is in charge of safety and security for the school district. “The next time and any time after that, they just have to say their name, and the system looks them up and we can print out the badge without the ID.”
Brooklyn Center Community Schools have started a new check-in procedure that provides all visitors with printed name tags that include a photo and the reason for the person’s visit.
The name tags include the picture of the visitor, his/her/their name, and the reason they’re visiting.
“It’s easily identifiable, as a staff person walking down the hall can say, ‘Oh yes, that person is here for that specific purpose’ and it has the date on it so that it’s not something that’s been used from the previous week or the previous year,” said Huber.
Huber said the name tags are the real key to making sure everyone who encounters a visitor in the building knows who they are and why they are there. He also said more safety enhancements are coming as the district identifies ways it can improve.
“I think a lot of it comes down to revising our procedures of emergency preparedness and safety, looking at other technologies and we’re in the process of adding other technologies to the building that are going to help with safety and security overall in all of our buildings,” he said. “But the entryway is that first gateway into our buildings that we wanted to secure first.”
Huber said the prior entry procedures often required a visitor show a photo ID, but any name tags that were given out rarely had a picture on them and were hand-written.
Brooklyn Center High School
