What is Raptor?
The Raptor visitor management system scans a visitor’s photo ID and checks visitors against the national sex offender registry.
This system also prints a visitor badge with the visitor’s picture, name, date, time and location that they are visiting. Visitors are required to wear that badge while they are in one of our schools during school hours.
Why Raptor?
Raptor was implemented in the 2019-20 school year in the interest of improving student and staff safety. It is in line with HSSD's updated visitor policies, ensuring the safety of students and staff.
FAQ
Why do we need this in our schools?
The safety of our students and staff is our highest priority. We currently have secure vestibule entries at all of our schools. This new system allows for an additional layer of protection and safety for our students and staff.
How does it work?
The visitor identification system enhances safety by reading visitor driver’s licenses and quickly prints a visitor badge that can include the name of the visitor, time, date, destination, and purpose of the visit.
Identification includes all state-issued IDs, driver’s licenses, military IDs, a social security card, a green card, or some other form of government-issued identification that has name and date of birth.
Raptor scans your name, date of birth, and a photo for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders, but it does not check criminal or traffic history.
Raptor will also check the HSSD Student Information System to make sure you are permitted to check out a student. School staff members may also place notifications on your account to keep your contact information current. An example might be a request to update your primary phone number if one is no longer working.
This also provides a more secure visitor record history and prevents new visitors from seeing the identity of other visitors on the old paper logs.
Do schools have the right to require visitors, even parents, to produce identification before entering the campus?
Yes, we need to verify who is on campus and know the purpose of their visit. This also helps ensure the visitor is who they say they are. Most importantly, it is in the best interest of our visitors, so we will know who is in the building in the event of an emergency.
What information does Raptor scan and keep?
Raptor collects and stores your full name, date of birth, last four digits of your license number, and photo when your ID is scanned. A copy of the ID is not retained.
How does Raptor keep my data secure?
Raptor uses firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, host integrity monitoring, and port filtering, as well as the latest security processes to protect all of its systems and data. All information entered into Raptor gets encrypted using 256-bit AES encryption and uses a nationally-recognized cloud provider. Raptor does not share data with any third parties.
What happens if I am a registered sex offender but have a child at the school?
Upon scanning your ID, administrative staff will be notified so they can meet with you privately.
HSSD Administrative policy 7440 states, “Any person that is a registered sex offender under Wisconsin law is required to notify the superintendent of the specific date, time, and place of the person’s visit to any school facility and must notify the superintendent of his/her status as a registered sex offender.”
If you have permission for your visit, you will be allowed, with supervision, to continue into the building to contact your child. This supervision will ensure your rights are protected in a controlled environment.
Do other schools and institutions use a system like this?
Yes. Many surrounding districts use Raptor or similar visitor management systems to help ensure school and student safety.
What if I have a DUI or parking ticket, will school staff know?
No. The system does not check those databases, only registered sex offenders.
What if I don’t have a valid form of ID or don’t want it scanned?
If you don’t have a state-issued ID or don’t want your ID scanned, there is still a way for you to get access to our schools and check out students, but you will not be able to enter the school without a staff member with you.
You will need to speak directly with school office staff members, who will ask for your legal name, date of birth, relationship to the student and reason for visiting.
Office staff will manually confirm your identification, run a background check, and make sure you are listed as someone who can check out a student. This may take a few minutes longer than the ID scan to complete.
