MERIDIAN, Idaho — In 2018, there were 24 school shootings that happened around the nation, according to research from Education Week.
The threat of school shootings has many districts looking at ways to improve safety and security. That includes the West Ada School District.
One policy change the district is making for the 2019-2020 school year is that all high school and middle school students will be issued ID badges. Staff members at all schools will also have them.
"You basically swipe it in front of a pad by the front door and it opens it," West Ada spokesman Eric Exline said.
If a student loses their badge, they are issued a new one and the old one is deactivated. That way, if it falls into the wrong hands, it won't work to gain access to school buildings.
When it comes to after-hours at the schools, staff can access buildings with their ID badge, plus a pin code. Exline said students will not be able to access buildings after hours but if it's related to an extracurricular activity, the coach or staff member in charge of that activity is responsible for access.
"The other thing the system does is it's actually tracking every swipe and every entry so you know who came into any building at any hour of the day or night," Exline said.
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A second security change for the district involves visitors to the schools.
"What's different for visitors now when they come to our schools is they press a buzzer that alerts office staff and they can either see them directly or through a webcam and they decide if they're going to give the visitor access to the building," Exline said.
Once buzzed in, the visitor stops at the front desk and hands over their driver's license. The ID is put through the scanner, which checks to see if the person is on the National Sex Offender Registry. If the person checks out, they'll be issued a visitor's sticker than has a picture of the person's ID and it also indicates where the person is going.
Anyone on the registry is not allowed inside public schools, per Idaho code.
"We're trying to do the best job we can at tracking who comes to our school, why they're there and where they're going," Exline said.
The security changes have been in the works for several years and are a result of mass shootings happening around the nation, Exline said, but also partly because of an incident two years ago where a former West Ada student got into a school and caused some problems.
District officials are asking parents to be patient as the changes are implemented this school year.