Thursday, May 10, 2007; Posted: 3:29 p.m. (CDT)
It seems everywhere you turn there's a serious situation at a school. A high school in Colorado had quite a scare today after two young males in camouflage were spotted in the building.
Paula Carlile, the Principal of Orvis Risner Elementary, says, "I think in these days and times, it's really a good thing to know who's in our building."
The Edmond elementary school has security cameras. It also now has another security measure. It's a machine that conducts background checks.
Ruthie Rayner, the Assistant Principal of Orvis Risner Elementary, says, "It's not a scary thing. We're really just trying to make our building safer for the kids."
The LobbyGuard, as it's called, is easy to use. You answer some simple questions. You then scan your driver's license into the machine.
"It does background checks on 50 states for sexual offenders and for violent criminals," says Rayner.
If someone does have a criminal background, school officials are notified right away.
Carlile says, "I think it adds another blanket of security that we really do need for the school."
Parents we talked with were also excited about LobbyGuard.
Ashley McMillan, who has a son in the second grade, says, "I think it's incredible. I think it's just amazing. This way predators that obviously want to find their way into our school system can't."
The school was able to pay for the machine with a homeland security grant. Orvis Risner Elementary was the only school in the metro to receive the grant. LobbyGuard came with a price tag of just over six thousand dollars.
