Prior Lake-Savage schools roll out new visitor management system

Prior Lake American

Starting on the first day of school, visitors to Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools will experience a different set of requirements to enter the buildings.

The district is rolling out Raptor, a new visitor management system in use during school hours for all visitors requesting access to school buildings beyond the front office or check-in area.

Information about the system was presented at the Prior Lake-Savage Area School Board meeting on Monday.

All visitors will be required to present a government-issued ID, which will be scanned into the system. Raptor will retain the first and last name, photo, birth date and partial ID number in the system and print a badge for the visitor to wear. The system will not store a copy of the ID.

The system also screens information against the sexual offender registry and custom alerts from the Infinite Campus program.

Site staff will be trained on the Raptor system beginning Tuesday. Part of the training will focus on a customer service attitude, including by greeting each visitor, asking his or her purpose in the school, asking for an ID, entering it into the system, printing the badge and asking the visitor to return the badge upon exit.

Raptor cost $20,700 with funding from the health and safety fund.

High school upgrades

As part of an additional safety measure in the district, all the doors at Prior Lake High School will be locked during school hours. Previously, one door was unlocked and a member of staff observed all visitors.

Now, visitors will have to be buzzed in and a camera will face the entrance.

“We feel this a good upgrade so people feel more comfortable,” Prior Lake High School Principal John Bezek said. “We want to make sure people feel secure without it being overbearing.”

District staff are also working on a video to train staff, students and parents on “Lockdown With Options,” an intruder response program.

The program is a combination of Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate and Run, Hide, Fight.

“Lockdown is still a very good option, lockdowns are great, but they shouldn’t be the only thing you do,” Bezek said. “We’re giving people a basis to trust their instincts. ... These are just again, unfortunately, a life skill that people should have in case something should happen.”

Bezek said “Run, Hide, Fight” is like “Stop, Drop and Roll” in that it is self-explanatory — the instruction is run if you can, hide if it is safest, fight if there are no other options.

District staff is hoping to have a video in place before sending communication out to families and beginning training. The district will have the training video on its YouTube channel and a webpage with a summary of all the safety measures, including Raptor.

Training for seven administrators on the program was $5,950 with funding from professional development.

Roll out dates

From Aug. 13-24, information about the system will be sent to press, staff and parents. On Aug. 27, a reminder will be sent to parents as well as information included in the back-to-school newsletter.

The system will be launched on Sept. 4 and Sept. 6, the first days of school for sixth through 12th grades and for kindergarten through fifth grades, respectively.

“Everyone who wants to visit, bring your ID and things will be just great,” Superintendent Teri Staloch said.