Parkway Schools

VISITOR CHECK-IN SYSTEM

Who is visiting your child’s school?
We take our responsibility to keep students safe very seriously, which is why we must know who is in our school buildings during the school day. In the interest of student and staff safety, Parkway has a visitor identification system in all schools and buildings. All parents, visitors, guests, contractors and volunteers need to show photo identification when they enter a school or building. Guests receive a printed visitor badge with their name on it to wear while they are in a school during school hours.

We understand this may cause some brief inconvenience for guests when visiting our schools, but the time it takes to show ID and receive a visitor badge should be about the same as signing in on a paper log. By working together we can meet our goal to increase safety and security for students and staff.

Why do we need this in our schools?
The safety of our students and staff is our highest priority, and parents have shared that there is some inconsistency in how visitors are managed across our schools. This 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 then quickly printing a visitor badge that can include the name of the visitor, time, date, destination and purpose of 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 a name and date of birth.

The system scans the visitor’s name, date of birth and photo for comparison with a database of registered sex offenders. Using the barcode on the driver’s license, the visitor’s information is compared to a database that consists of registered sex offenders from all 50 states and U.S. territories. In almost all cases, no match is found and a visitor badge is printed. If a match is found, the visitor is asked to wait while a building administrator is notified. Under Missouri law, sexual offenders may not come within 500 feet of a school without the permission of the superintendent.

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 we 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’s also in the best interest of our visitors, so we will know who is in the building in the event of an emergency.

How is my personal information protected?
Parkway's check-in system collects the minimum amount of information necessary to complete the appropriate safety checks. This includes the person's name, date of birth and driver's license number. This information is stored securely in Parkway's data center at the Administrative Office. Parkway uses industry recognized security best practices for storing and protecting data. This includes regular security updates, antivirus, advanced malware protection, monitoring and periodic third-party audits. Parkway is prohibited by law from sharing this information with anyone outside the district.