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Date: 9/28/2023
WILBRAHAM — Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District Superintendent John Provost told the School Committee that Mile Tree School had been piloting the Raptor visitor management system, a security program that screens school building visitors to flag sex offenders, individuals who have been banned and parties in a custody dispute.
Visitors ring the bell outside and a member of the office staff will view the person through a camera and ask them to identify themselves and state what business they have in the building. They are then instructed to report to the office. When the visitor comes to the office, they are asked to provide their license or state ID. Once the ID is scanned and run through the software, an adhesive badge with the person’s photo and name is printed out and worn by the visitor while in the building. Visitors without a license or state ID will need to meet with the principal to set up an ID for the system. Provost said there may be some discretion in the event of an emergency when the visitor’s identity is known to the office staff.
School Committee member Richard Rediker posited that if students do not have IDs, a person who looks young could “walk in with students” and not be questioned. School Committee member Bill Bontempi asked about the chance of someone following a legitimate visitor into the building once the door has been unlocked for them. Provost acknowledged the possibilities as those that may need to be addressed.
The system comes with a panic button and silent alarm that office personnel can trigger if needed.
School Committee member Sean Kennedy said once someone is buzzed into the building, they may not report to the office to have their ID scanned. Provost said an outdoor Raptor kiosk may address that.
Bontempi and School Committee member Michael Tirabassi approved of the kiosk idea. Tirabassi said it would also offer protection for office personnel against hostile individuals.
Kennedy asked who owns the data from the scans. The superintendent told him Raptor does not store any of the data.
Provost said custody issues have caused the most flags in the system so far. If a sex offender were to have a legitimate reason for being in the building, such as having a student at the school, Provost said the person would be watched while in building.
The system does not address people who are outside of the building, such as in the car pick-up line.
“Dismissal is a nail-biting time. You’re always trying to make sure you’re releasing students to the right people,” Provost acknowledged.
The Raptor system will now be in all four elementary schools. Eventually, the program will be in use in all the district’s schools.
SOAR
Wilbraham Middle School Principal John Derosia presented the wellbeing promotion project, Middle School SOAR. “Even the happiest kid in middle school looks unhappy,” Derosia commented and said the schools need help identifying students who are struggling.
Students who volunteer for the program will take a survey. The questions will have them answer questions, such as “My life is going well” with a scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree. Other questions, such as “I would describe my family as …” will offer a list of possible answers. After the initial survey, students will be separated into two groups. Each group will have students whose answers show a wide range of happiness levels. The first group will meet for 45 minutes per week for 10 weeks. The other group will do the same next year.
Kennedy expressed concern that students being pulled from class would create a stigma. Derosia said this would be one of many activities and groups in which students take part and unless the person tells classmates why they are being pulled, the class would not know.
Combined grades
During the public comment period, a parent of two students in the district said he was worried that combining eighth graders with the high school, as is being explored by the district, would have a detrimental effect. He noted that some high schoolers are five years older than eighth grade students. He asked that the district consider a large middle school for students in both towns.
Continuing the topic of moving grade 8 to Minnechaug Regional High School, the curriculum subcommittee recently discussed whether to align the eighth grade schedule with the high school’s block-based classes or maintain the middle school schedule, which would allow for the extended math periods that are in place at the middle schools. With either schedule, the unified arts teachers from the middle schools would come to Minnechaug at the end of the day to teach the eighth grade.