Across the nation, school administrators struggle with striking the balance between providing a welcoming school climate and keeping the facility secure from unwanted intruders. While even the best school access control efforts will likely not guarantee that a determined outsider will not be able to gain access to the school, educators must take reasonable steps to reduce the risks of unauthorized access.

As part of Cheltenham School District’s guest/visitor management practice, each District building is equipped with Raptor software, an integrated set of technology solutions designed to protect students, faculty, and staff, which monitors all guests/visitors to the school and helps identify anyone who may compromise school safety. Raptor protects more than 20,000 K-12 schools across the nation. As the Cheltenham School District works to provide a secure learning environment for students and staff, Raptor may cause some inconvenience, a small price to pay for the system’s positives, including:  

• Maintaining a record of all guests/visitors to the school;
• Identifying any person who might attempt to access the school but who is restricted due to documented reasons, such as custodial matters or court-ordered restrictions; and
• Most significantly, tracking all registered sexual offenders (RSO) in the United States and alerting the staff when and if an RSO attempts to gain entry.

All CSD buildings utilize Raptor software which monitors visitors and helps identify anyone who may compromise school safety. Raptor scans a visitor’s state-issued ID and screens them against a national database. When the visitor is cleared, Raptor prints a badge with their name, photo, date, time and destination. If a concern is identified, school officials are alerted.