Officials In Montgomery County School District Unveil New Security System
By Jericka Duncan, Brad Segall
HATBORO, Pa. (CBS) -- Officials with the Hatboro-Horsham School District unveiled new security improvements and enhancements made to Simmons Elementary and Keith Valley Middle School.
Last year's school shooting in Connecticut forced many districts to take another look at how secure their buildings really are.
The media was invited to try the new visitor identification system.
Visitors are required to have their licenses scanned, and the information from your license is then run through a national sex offender database and a public watch list.
"With what happened in Sandy Hook we really realized that now is the time when we want to invest in changing the structure so that we have an area where someone comes in and then is held there until we actually let them into our building," said Superintendent Dr. Curtis Griffin
He says that in the three weeks they've had the system, a registered sex offender came to one of the elementary schools to do maintenance work.
Dr. Griffin says that worker had a school official with him the whole time he did his work and was later escorted out of the school. The District then called the company the maintenance worker came from, and told them that the maintenance worker was not permitted back in the building.
District officials say they plan to have the new security measure in place at all seven of the schools by next school year.
The cost, according to the Superintendent, is $9,100 per school to set up the license scan system and $6,500 per year to maintain the program.
Other security updates include structural changes and security cameras.
