Wednesday was the first day back to school for the Huntingdon Area School District. Visitors to the district will have to check in at new visitor kiosks, which are inside each building lobby, for a security check.
Jennifer Mitchell is the superintendent of the district. She said the kiosk screens visitors’ driver’s licenses, or they can take a photo and manually enter their information.
“The intent of this is not to not be welcoming. The intent of it is for safety. So I never want people to get the impression that we're intending to keep people out of our schools," Mitchell said.
Mitchell said the kiosks are meant to save time for school secretaries, and to meet state grant requirements regarding school safety.
"We continually try to improve safety measures based on what is happening in school safety. You know, what might be trends and what is happening, to just be proactive," Mitchell said.
The kiosk runs visitors’ information through an online database to check for possible criminal records. If the system flags any issues, a secretary will double check the database or talk to the visitor.
Mitchell said a criminal record does not automatically mean someone is banned from entering.
“The automated part of it is just simply giving us information and data," Mitchell said. "So, if our secretarial staff in the front office believe there was someone at the door that may not be appropriate or safe to enter the building, there is a system for alerting whether it be the principal, whether it be our school resource officer, to come talk with that individual.”
But Mitchell said the process is meant to be fully automated.
"Like, you just come in, put in your license, and then you're free to come in," Mitchell said.
Mitchell said visitors will only have to do the security check on their first visit. The kiosk will save their information in the system, and secretaries can issue key cards to regular visitors.
