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New Hampshire School Introducing Background Checks for All Visitors

Written by Michael Klazema | Jul 17, 2012 4:00:00 AM

Administrators at Hollis Brookline High School in Hollis, New Hampshire, have announced they would like to implement required background checks on all visitors to the school, as part of new security procedures. According to Principal Cynthia Matte, “the security of our students and staff is the number one priority.” “We do need to add some security measures; it’s just good practice. When this school was built, security wasn’t thought of as a requirement, and we’re just trying to correct that.” The new security procedures come after a security audit performed at the school five years ago, and is comprised of a three-phase plan to improve the school’s security as part of a joint effort by school staff members and local safety experts.

Presented to the school board in May, the plan is still pending approval. If approved this summer, the plan will be implemented over the course of three years. The background check phase of the plan would include the use of software to scan the driver’s licenses of visitors to screen for registered sex offenders, domestic violence offenders, and other offenses that could potentially pose a threat to students. The software would instantly alert designated officials via email, telephone and text message if a threat is identified. An ID badge is printed for visitors cleared by the software. At a cost of $500 annually, the software would also track faculty and volunteer hours, as well as the arrival and departure of students.

New ID cards would be issued to students and staff, as well as hardware to secure all exterior doors and the installation of key swipe pads at the front and back doors, as part of the first phase of the plan. Cameras at each exit are also included. The keypads track who comes into the building and at what time, and can be programmed to work only at certain times of the day or year only. Although Matte says the school has already made some of the smaller changes recommended by the audit, more needs to be done. “It’s something that’s been on our radar, knowing that we have to tighten up security,” she said. She adds that due to increased incidents of school violence, the staff at the high school is taking a more proactive approach to security measures.

Putting extra security measures in place, including background checks, is always a good idea.When it comes to the safety of children, you can never be too safe. If your business has employees in regular contact with minors, you should be utilizing regular background checks. Make it easy by using a company like backgroundchecks.com. With access to countless criminal databases nationwide, they provide several options for instant results. Their Ongoing Criminal Monitoring tool allows you to automatically run a continuous background check against a name and date of birth. They notify you via email of any new information that may appear on the record, and will run the name for one year and remind you when it is time to renew the monitoring. You can remove the name from being monitored at any time. Or for more specific information on sex offenders, their US Offender OneSEARCH includes information contained in their comprehensive US OneSEARCH. Plus, this data includes sex offender information from 49 states (plus Washington D.C., Guam, and Puerto Rico) with photos.

 

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backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.

 

Source: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/963005-196/story.html