BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – There are only a couple of days until students report back to school in Brevard County and this year the district has added a new security feature to its schools.
"KeepnTrack" will be in every single public school come Monday, just in time for the new school year. The district installed the system after hearing concerns from parents about school safety.
Michelle Irwin with Brevard Public Schools said anyone wanting to visit the district's 82 schools will have to check in with their state identification before being allowed inside. Then, their information is run through a national sex offender database.
"Our district security gets an automatic alert, the front desk gets an alert, the principal, the assistant principal, the nearest school resource officer to the school building, all get an alert stating that a potential sex predator has tried to check in," said Irwin.
Brevard County resident Tammy Rhodes' kids go to Viera High School. They were back-to-school shopping Wednesday and said they think "KeepnTrack" is money well spent for the district, even though they feel their school is already safe.
"I think it's a good thing. It'll keep our kids safer," said Rhodes.
The district said KeepnTrack will also come in handy when schools have emergency situations, like a bomb threat. Because it's web-based, teachers and administrators will have pictures of anyone that's checked in and supposed to be on campus, which makes it easier to spot someone that's out of place.
With the new system, the district said they will continue to have two levels of volunteers, one requiring criminal background checks. However, with KeepnTrack, the need to come into district officers for fingerprinting has been eliminated.
"We believe this is a product that is ultimately going to result in a much more safe and secure situation for our kids, and that's what's most important," said Irwin.