Gwinnett County Public Schools will begin using a new tool to screen adult visitors to schools against the national sex offender registry.
The system will go online in high schools Monday and in elementary schools next month, according to an article in the school district’s newsletter, Communiqué.
Visitors to schools must ring the bell outside the main entrance and, once buzzed in, proceed directly to the front desk in the lobby.
Office staff will request the visitor’s driver’s license or other state-issued identification and compare the information to the national database. If a match is found, staff will alert school administrators, according to the newsletter. Visitors who are cleared will receive badges with their dates and purpose of visit.
Staffers will scan the driver’s license or identification or manually enter it into the system. If the visitor does not have an identification issued by the U.S. government, staffers can use any form of identification and manually enter the visitor’s name into the system, which will check the name and date of birth against the national database.
A visitor’s badge is not necessary for those who are simply dropping something off in the office or picking up paperwork, the newsletter said.
As another measure of improved safety, the Gwinnett district is also expanding surveillance cameras in high school stadiums, the newsletter said.
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