After experiencing multiple delays with their initial plan, the Warren County R-III School District announced enhanced safety procedures at all district schools. 

The district initially planned to order hardware to make school buildings more secure in response to an incident at Black Hawk Middle School in November. After multiple delays and no options to manufacture or purchase the needed products, the district decided to place Raptor systems in the foyers at all district buildings. The Raptor system will provide background checks of individuals who want to enter district school buildings. 

“We’ve had this for a long time for people that enter the building,” Warren County R-III Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith said. “We thought we’ll just put that out in our foyers and if anybody wants to enter the building, they would do background checks and they can come in. That way, we don’t have any breaches of people getting into the offices that shouldn’t be there.”

The district has utilized the Raptor system since 2017. The system was previously in the school office. 

Klinginsmith anticipates most visitors to district school buildings will not need to go through the steps to enter the building. If a parent wants to pick up their child early from school, they would buzz into the main foyer area and school staff will bring the child to the parent. Also, parents who need to drop off an item or items for a student can leave it in the foyer area and school staff can bring the item or items to the student. If a parent does need to get into the office, they will need to have their identification ready to scan in the Raptor system. 

Klinginsmith stressed this is a step for the district to ensure there is not an individual entering the office that should not be entering the school. It is another security step to ensure the district is keeping children safe, he stressed. 

Klinginsmith referenced the November incident, when an individual walked into the middle school in November after he was buzzed in by staff, and left a note that the Federal Bureau of Investigations was watching him. The individual then left the school. The individual was secured by law enforcement several minutes later. 

“What happens is you get into a routine of buzzing people in,” Klinginsmith said. “We had the breach at the middle school this year. That’s what spurred this change. Ok, we need to have another security checkpoint before we just buzz people in.”

Klinginsmith said the Raptor system is in place outside the school office at all district schools. He added while this is the policy they will be proceeding with for now, they are always looking to make security improvements in the future. He noted they are pursuing safety grants from the state of Missouri. 

“We’re always looking for ways to make our school safer,” Klinginsmith said. “And so, if better ideas come around or opportunities, we’ll try to take advantage of them.”