T-L Photo/CARRI GRAHAM Superintendent Walter Skaggs talks to board members Wednesday about the installation of a new visitor check-in vestibule at the St. Clairsville Middle School. Pictured, from left, are board member Michael Fador, Skaggs, board President Mike Jacob, Treasurer Amy Porter and board member Jim Cook.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — A plan to add a new kiosk check-in vestibule to St. Clairsville Middle School is underway.

Once complete, all three schools in the district will be equipped with visitor holding areas for increased security.

Walter Skaggs, superintendent of the St. Clairsville-Richland City School District, told board of education members Wednesday morning there are visitor check-in areas at the elementary and high schools, and soon the middle school will have one as well.

“It’s not as secure as we’d like so we’re adding security doors where you go into the auditorium, if you walk up those steps and you go into the old middle school. At the top of those steps there will be a security door so when you come into that area, you’re stopped and you can’t go any further until you show your ID through the Raptor system. It approves you and then you also get buzzed in … or we won’t let you in at all,” he said.

Skaggs said the staff is working to limit the amount of traffic coming into the schools in order to keep students safe.

The kiosk area will allow school personnel to view and speak to the visitor through a speaker system to inquire about the reason for their visit. The Raptor system will also scan the person’s ID, which will either approve or flag the person for entry. He said the system will flag the individual if they have any sort of criminal record.

If the person is approved for entry, an ID badge will be printed out with their photo and reason for visit.

“It will really add another layer of security,” he said.

Skaggs said administration and staff also will be participating in a two-day training program for the reunification system through Raptor.

“That would be in case of a crisis or something where we had to reunify with parents or guardians and how you go about that process,” he said. “We’re looking forward to that. It would be another piece that we’re adding.”

Additionally, Skaggs said the district is getting prices for a new security entry system. The elementary school can be locked down with the push of a button; however, the middle school and high school cannot as of yet. The schools can only be shut down manually, he said.

“We’re getting prices on a system that will enable us to lock down that facility just like we can the elementary, so on the off chance there’s a situation, you hit a button and it locks all doors, you can’t access,” he said.

Skaggs said the administration recently met with the director of the Ohio Regional School Safety Center. He said the director was “very complimentary” of the district’s safety plans.

“He (the director) said compared to other plans he’s seen, he felt we were ahead of the curve as far as our safety plan goes,” he said.

In other matters, the board reviewed summaries submitted from the elementary, middle and high schools. Skaggs said all-in-all it was a good school year.

“(There were) challenges for sure. You’re coming off of COVID and actually still dealing with COVID there at the beginning of the year and trying to have some normalcy but for the most part, our kids got to do most of the things that we do annually,” he said, adding that the graduating class the year prior lost a lot of extra curricular activities due to COVID-19. “This was the first year we actually got everything in and it was as normal as it could possibly be and I’m looking for that to improve as we move forward.”

Skaggs thanked the administration and staff for their continued work.

Board members unanimously approved the superintendent’s report.

The board will next meet at 7 a.m. July 13 at the board office.