High Tech Visitor Sign-In At One Borderland School District
The Fabens Independent School District has a high tech way of keeping students safe from sex offenders. Anyone who wants to go on-campus except faculty and staff must be issued a visitor’s pass at the front desk– but it’s a bit more complicated than your average sign in sheet.
ABC-7 got a demonstration of the school district’s “LobbyGuard” self-service kiosks at Fabens Elementary School on Friday. Visitors scan their driver’s license at the machine and wait for the LobbyGuard software to search their name against a national database of registered sex offenders. If a visitor’s name matches with that of a sex offender on the list, that visitor is denied access until a school clerk verifies the visitor’s identity.
“I compare the picture of the person to the actual offender,” said Pat Solis, a clerk at Fabens Elementary who also has a child in the school. “If there’s no comparison, I do remove the match and then that person can reapply (at the machine) and be okay.”
Assistant Principal Abe Canelas said there have been no positive matches since the machines were introduced at the elementary school about a year ago. Still, every time a visitor’s name is the same as a registered sex offender’s on the database, an entire group of people will be alerted including the Canelas, the principal, school security and Central Office. In the case a sex offender is positively identified, that individual will be denied access and escorted out of the building by security.
If visitors don’t have a driver’s license to scan, they simply input their name and date of birth manually before their picture is taken. The machine provides instructions in both Spanish and English.
Fabens ISD officials confirmed there are 6 LobbyGuard machines throughout the 4 Fabens public schools currently in use. The district leases the kiosks at a cost of approximately $23,000 a year. The expense has been included in the school district’s annual budget.
The price tag may sound steep to some, but parent Laura Gamez said the security system is worth every penny. “You can’t put a price on my child’s safety,” she said.
