District increases campus security
DBHS will now scan identification cards of visitors to campus.
The Walnut Valley Unified School District has added a new security system to the many school safety procedures being implemented this year. The system, called LobbyGuard, requires campus visitors to present their identification to be scanned to check for any sex offenders.
“LobbyGuard is a school security system that uses a national database that searches for sex offenders and crimes that can help screen individuals who would like to have access to our campus,” Diamond Bar High School Principal Reuben Jones said.
LobbyGuard, founded in 2005, will be used at every school in the district.
At DBHS, the system has been up and running since Nov. 1. Lobbyguard scans the name and birth date of a person’s ID card, enabling it to match visitors’ information to any possible record of sex offenders.
“We want to know who’s coming on our campus, and we want to know if there are adults that have broken the law,” Jones said. “They won’t have access to our campus.”
However, if a parent is dropping off a student or leaving an item for a student, they will not have to have their ID scanned.
The ID check will only be obligatory if a person of legal age wants to take a child out of school early or enter campus.
When they are cleared to enter the campus, visitors will be given a badge with their name, picture and destination by a front office staffer. This will also apply to staff members, who will be required to wear WVUSD badges when visiting other district campuses.
“If I go to visit Chaparral and I don’t have on my badge, then I have to take out my ID and be scanned even though I’m the principal at Diamond Bar,” Jones said.
The process of verifying adults who wish to enter schools is a relatively short process as the badges required to enter campus will be printed right after the system scans the ID.
The IDs accepted by the new system are driver’s licenses or IDs issued by the state, a Martricular Consular card (an ID card given to Mexicans who are living abroad), a military card and a card for permanent residency.
Jones also confirmed that the cameras installed throughout the campus have yet to be activated.
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