Enhanced Visitor Safeguards to be Implemented

Westwood is pleased to announce that we will begin using the Raptor Visitor Mgt. System in our school to enhance the district’s program of campus safety for students and faculty. Part of keeping students and faculty safe is knowing who is in our building at all times, and the Raptor system will allow us to do that. The Raptor system will better allow us to track visitors, contractors, volunteers and any other guests in our schools and provide us with a safer environment for our students and staff.

Upon entering our school building, visitors will be asked to present a valid state-issued ID, which will be scanned into the system. The Raptor system will check to ensure that registered sexual offenders are not entering our building. It is important to note that the Raptor system only scans the visitor’s name, date of birth and photo for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders. Additional visitor data from the driver’s license is not gathered nor is the system connected to any other system such as the BMV. Therefore, any other information on the ID is not scanned by the system and is not accessible to any of the users. Once entry is approved, Raptor will issue a badge that identifies the visitor, the date, and the purpose of his/her visit.The system should be fully operational over this summer.

A visitor’s badge will not be necessary for those who visit our schools simply to drop off an item in the office or pick up paperwork. In the event that a person does not have identification, he/she can still be given access to the building but will be escorted by a school staff member or School Resource Officer (SRO).