Visalia Unified adds volunteer management and emergency alert system to all schools
With the press of a button, the entire school, district office and first responders are notified of an emergency.
VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- There's a new sense of safety at Golden Oak Elementary School and all schools in the Visalia Unified School District.
New this year, a network called "Raptor" is now in place.
It's a volunteer management system and an emergency alert system.
"With the punch of a button, they can put a school into a lockdown, they can indicate a fire drill, they can indicate the need to do an evacuation," VUSD Superintendent Kirk Schrum said.
Every staff member and administrator has access to the system on their laptop or personal device.
With the press of a button, the entire school, district office and first responders are notified of an emergency.
Superintendent Kirk Shrum says the new system was in response to parent concerns.
"We heard loud and clear that they wanted investment in safety and security," Schrum said.
For parents like Arianna Firmalo, whose son Ricky is in 6th grade at Golden Oak Elementary, it's added peace of mind.
"They really started the process and got the ball rolling with everything, so you know that they're listening and taking our complaints or concerns seriously," Firmalo said.
In addition, anybody who comes on campus needs to have a district ID or a visitor ID.
Visitors must scan their state driver's license or identification card into the system.
It will then print out a badge with their picture on it.
"The other thing it does is runs a little bit of a check against our Megan's Law and sex offender registry," Schrum said.
The system will alert administrators if the individual checking in shows up on either list.
Golden Oak Elementary School Principal Brooke Schilling says the Raptor system is replacing older, outdated systems and keeping her more than 600 students safe while at school.
"In the event of an emergency, which we hope never happens, I know we're going to be able do what we need to do faster," Schilling said.
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