School Board Considers Technology to Detect Sexual Predators

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the Nov. 2 working session, the Franklin County Board of Education considered installing Raptor visitor management software designed to detect sexual predators at two county schools on a pilot basis.

Director of Schools Amie Lonas and Brian Norwood recently met with Raptor representatives. Norwood is assisting Transportation and Safety Director Ellis Counts, who will retire Jan. 1.

“The school resource officers (SROs) brought the technology to our attention,” Norwood said. He provided the board with an overview of the program.

At all county schools presently, to-be visitors must request admittance via an electronic notification device before the office will unlock the doors. With the Raptor technology, visitors would be required to scan their photo ID at a kiosk located immediately inside the entrance. The software then searches more than 700 websites for sexual predator information. If the software shows no matches, the system prints a visitor’s badge with a photo ID and information on the visitor’s intended destination within the school.

In the case of an alert, the system summons an SRO and informs the visitor an error code registered, requiring the visitor to go to the office. The SRO will then take action as necessary.

The software can generate detailed reports and databases on visitor activity; automatically notify other schools in the system of suspicious activity, such as a vehicle cruising the parking lot; send a call for police with a single emergency button; and be input with checkout data for children indicating which adults have permission to pick them up. Add-ons to the basic system allow for background checks and volunteer tracking. The basic system costs $1,600 for each school and an additional $480 annually per school after the first year.

Lonas asked the board to consider installing the basic software on a pilot basis at Franklin County High School (FCHS) and Clark Memorial 

Elementary, the largest high school and largest elementary school in the district. FCHS has two entrances, making the total cost for the pilot installations at both schools $3,970.

Lonas stressed the school system was “not interested in policing” or gathering other information about visitors beyond the sexual predator criterion.

Norwood said many other schools in the region use the software, including Lawrence, Maury, Rutherford and Williamson counties. In the first two weeks of use, Maury County identified a to-be visitor as a sexual predator.

The board expressed strong interest in the program and asked for more feedback from area schools using the software.

In other business Lonas summarized data from the Tennessee State Report Card, which provides academic performance and progress indicators comparing Franklin County schools to other schools in the state. She said it would be difficult to measure the effectiveness of any instructional changes made in response to this year’s report card, because next year’s report card would use a different assessment mechanism based on the Common Core curriculum.

In response to a request from Lonas, Sewanee school board representative Adam Tucker proposed revisions to the Student Transportation Management policy. If adopted, the revised policy would establish criteria requiring a bus driver involved in an accident to be tested for drug and alcohol use and to refrain from driving until test results were received. If test results are negative, the driver would be paid for the days off work. In addition, bus drivers not requiring testing under the criteria could request to be tested. The board will vote on the revised policy at the Nov. 9 meeting.

Lonas announced negotiations had resumed with the buyer who earlier expressed interest in purchasing the Oak Grove School property. The buyer made a $5,000 earnest payment.

The board will meet again on Nov. 9 at the Huntland School cafeteria.