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Security to increase at school

By Kelly Townsend
The Times-Journal

Published June 26, 2008

Visitors checking in at Fort Payne Middle School will soon see some major changes at the front desk.

A $5,000 grant, obtained through the School Resource Officer Program and Sgt. Steven Whited, will soon be used to implement a computerized visitor check system that will detect if a visitor is a registered sex offender or has a history of violence.

“The way the system will work is that instead of having a person just sign their name on a notepad at the front desk, there will be software set up that immediately prints out a visitor pass with a photo ID,” Whited said. “The system also immediately checks the National Database to check for a criminal background and alerts the principal and the local police if a convicted sex offender is in the school.”

Whited said this was just one of many security upgrades the school is planning to use through the National Crime Prevention Council’s “Be Safe and Sound in School Program.” He said the program would be put in place beginning in the fall and throughout the school year.

Fort Payne Police Chief David Walker said the program is a collaborative effort to increase safety among middle schools across the country.

Walker said Fort Payne Middle School was one of 12 schools nationwide to be selected.

“The middle school will receive funding to increase security measures at the school in the form of video surveillance, as well as the visitor check system,” Walker said.

Walker said the SRO program is important to our department and to the school system.

“The cooperation and joint efforts in making our schools a safe place is very important,” Walker said.

Fort Payne school Superintendent Jimmy Cunningham said that he really appreciated the work that [Steve] Whited did in preparing this grant.

“This grant is going to make our middle school much more safer because now we will have the ability to print name badges for visitors and check their licenses to check to see if they are a felon,” Cunningham said. “We are very excited about this and can see how this type of system would be beneficial in any type of setting, as well as pilot for us to see how it would work out in other schools.”

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