ROELAND PARK, Kan. — New security measures begin Monday in the Shawnee Mission School District.
Anyone wanting to get inside a school will now have to show their driver’s license or other form of identification.
The Shawnee Mission School District has been beta testing the new technology at Roesland Elementary the past year and it’s gone so well, they are rolling it out across the entire district starting Monday.
Anybody who wants to go into one of the 47 Shawnee Mission schools and have contact with children will now have to present their driver’s license at the front office.
The secretary will scan it through a new computer system and give you a sticker with your picture on it along with information about where you are allowed to be.
This new procedure will let them know if you have any custody issues and check to see if you are a sex offender.
District officials said it will help them better protect kids by keeping a closer eye on everyone who goes into a school building.
“It does not prohibit them from coming up and visiting their children or participating in their children’s education, they have a right to be with their children, but we don’t all have a right to be involved with everyone else’s children,” Chief John Douglass, Shawnee Mission School Security Director, said.
The new technology cost the district $80,000, and more security measures are on the way.
Chief Douglass said they are working on installing more security cameras at every school along with a computerized system to let know whenever a door at a school is propped open and who propped it open.
Once you’re in the system, you won’t have to swipe your license every time you go into the school. The secretary will still have to pull you up on the computer every time.
If you are just dropping off your child or something for your child, you won’t have to go through the process.