Wake County Public School System shoring up security with new policies

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Wake County Public School System is taking steps to make classrooms safer.

WCPSS will have a new visitor check-in system at all schools by July 1. The school district used grant money to purchase the new system after a consulting company identified the lack of a centralized and streamline visitor policy as a safety weakness of the district.

That new system, called Verkada, will immediately check to see if the visitor is on the sex offender registry or have outstanding custody/trespass orders.

According to our newsgathering partners at the News & Observer, WCPSS is also proposing new rules to require identification and an escort for visitors on school campuses.

"We want to make sure that they go where they say they're going," Russ Smith, Wake's senior director of security, said at Tuesday's policy committee meeting. "We're not just giving free roam or free access to the building."