Another security measure has been added to two schools in Suffolk, with the remainder of the schools to follow over the next several weeks.

The Raptor Visitor Management System was just installed at Booker T. Washington Elementary and John F. Kennedy Middle schools. The two schools will be the pilot schools before installing the system at every school in the division.

The Raptor system, which is manned by the school’s security monitor, checks state-issued IDs against national sex offender databases.

“Once I finish everything in about a week, we will train the staff,” said David LeFevre, coordinator of student services. “It should be in all the schools within two or three weeks.”

The school division received $22,430 from the Virginia Department of Education to fund the system in 11 of the 19 schools in October.

The system costs approximately $2,000 per school, and Suffolk Public Schools will utilize money from unfilled staff positions in the 2018-2019 budget to provide the system in the remainder of the schools.

The new system also allows the schools to better track who is coming in and out, and in the future, they will be able to expand the system’s capabilities, according to LeFevre.

“It’s going to be really great, and we can do a lot of things. We can count volunteers coming to the school and have a better count of kids with tardies or that leave early,” LeFevre said. “This gives us the opportunity to take a lot of data on things once we get it hooked up to our e-school system.”

Russell Barnes, a safety monitor at Booker T. Washington Elementary School, has already been enjoying using the system at the elementary school.

“It’s great, and it can really deter people that shouldn’t be here. Some people don’t want to pull out their ID,” Barnes said.

Barnes believes the system is already working well at the school, and he has even contacted technical support to see how long it would take them to respond.

“So far I’ve contacted tech support and it only took them two minutes,” Barnes said. “It works great so far.”

The current volunteer management program, Volunteer Connect, already provides sex-offender and child abuse screenings to any registered volunteers, and those screenings are done every 12 months. But the new system would provide the real-time screening on the spot for all visitors.

“Suffolk Public Schools focuses on student safety and staff safety. We have gone a long way from bringing the monitors into the building and bringing in the Raptor system,” LeFevre said. “That is a huge focus for us, and we will continue to look at additional safety avenues.”