Officials at the Berwick Area School District unveiled a new security system Wednesday to better protect 3,000 students.
It works though a specialized computer system. Anyone entering a school building who is not a student or school staff member has to produce some form of identification. The document is scanned. If the person is a registered sex offender an alert is displayed on the computer screen. A text message is sent to the phones of police and administrators.
"The number one thing we want to assure parents is when they send their kids here they are safe. This is just another way to assure parents when the students are here in our buildings, they are safe at all times," said high school principal J.J. Cleaver.
The high-tech brain has other capabilities and can target other problems said Sergeant Mike Monico of the Berwick Police Department. "We can add anybody to the system. If they're not allowed to come to school, a protective order against a child, they're not allowed to have contact with, as soon as they come in it will alert us also."
Melissa Stoker is a parent and said knowing the system is in place will give her extra peace of mind. "You think you know somebody and you don't. You don't know who you can trust so with this screening you feel so much safer," Stoker said.
The system costs $10,000 and was funded with a grant. Berwick Area School District officials believe it's only one of three such systems in the state.
It works though a specialized computer system. Anyone entering a school building who is not a student or school staff member has to produce some form of identification. The document is scanned. If the person is a registered sex offender an alert is displayed on the computer screen. A text message is sent to the phones of police and administrators.
"The number one thing we want to assure parents is when they send their kids here they are safe. This is just another way to assure parents when the students are here in our buildings, they are safe at all times," said high school principal J.J. Cleaver.
The high-tech brain has other capabilities and can target other problems said Sergeant Mike Monico of the Berwick Police Department. "We can add anybody to the system. If they're not allowed to come to school, a protective order against a child, they're not allowed to have contact with, as soon as they come in it will alert us also."
Melissa Stoker is a parent and said knowing the system is in place will give her extra peace of mind. "You think you know somebody and you don't. You don't know who you can trust so with this screening you feel so much safer," Stoker said.
The system costs $10,000 and was funded with a grant. Berwick Area School District officials believe it's only one of three such systems in the state.
