LobbyGuard System Halts Sex Offender at School

By David Boraks
The Davidson News
Posted: December 6, 2007

Police escorted a visitor out of Davidson Elementary School Thursday after a computer ID system identified him as a registered sex offender. It was the first incident of its kind since the system was installed last year, Principal Celeste Ellis said Thursday afternoon.

Ms. Ellis alerted parents about the incident in a letter sent home with students.

She said in an interview that the man had come to have lunch with a student whom he was related to. When he entered his name and birth date into the system, it matched the information with a database of registered sex offenders, and came up with a match.

The system quietly alerted school officials about the match and they called the police. Police responded within minutes, Ms. Ellis said, and led the man off school grounds. He will not be allowed into the school again, she said.

“It worked,” Ms. Ellis said of the system, which was donated by a company called LobbyGuard. Davidson Elementary is one of only a handful of Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools to have one of the systems.

“It’s a testament to what a great system this is for us,” Ms. Ellis said. “Any other school in the district who doesn’t have a system doesn’t have the luxury of a warning.”

In the note to parents, Ms. Ellis said the matter was handled “quickly, professionally and confidentially” and children were never in danger.

The school requires visitors to sign in on the LobbyGuard system, by providing either a driver’s license or their name and birthdate. Volunteers and other frequent visitors can get a keychain tag that allows them to sign in quickly.

In an interview last May, Ms. Ellis said about 100 visitors a day sign in on the system.

Since the school began using the system, it has flagged one other visitor, Ms. Ellis said. That person was not a registered offender and presented no danger, but had the same name as someone on the list.