WATSONVILLE — The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday will consider a proposal to place ID scanners in two schools, which would determine whether visitors can legally be on campus.
The pilot program would bring ID scanners made by Houston, Texas-based Raptor Technologies to Valencia and Hall District elementary schools.
There, staff would check visitors’ names against the national sex offender database, as well as legal databases of restraining orders and custodial orders.
If successful, the program would be rolled out to all the district’s schools next year.
At $1,725 per site, the program would cost the district about $50,000.
In other action, the trustees will consider implementing a program on its busses that would require drivers to check for any remaining students before parking and locking up.
Under the 2016 Paul Lee School Bus Safety Law, districts are required by next year to have child safety alert systems in the rear of the interior of their busses.
The system would require drivers to inspect the interior of the bus and press a button on the alarm to indicate inspection is completed.
The law is named for Hun Joon “Paul” Lee, 19, an autistic man who died in a hot bus in Whittier after a driver left him there in 90-degree heat in 2015.
PVUSD already has had a policy in place for the last two years, which requires drivers to walk the interior of the bus and place a stop sign in the window to indicate completion of inspection.
The program by Seattle, Wash.-based Zonar Systems will cost a little more than $153,000.
Also during the meeting, the trustees will also hear from district officials on ongoing collective bargaining between the district and the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers, otherwise known as a sunshine proposal.
The trustees will also consider extending an agreement between the district and Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education, Inc., a company currently in the second year of implementing a pilot beginning literacy program.
The company is in its second year of implementing Systematic Instruction in Phonological Awareness, Phonics, and Sight Words, also called SIPPS.
Ann Soldo, Bradley, Hyde, Mintie White, Radcliff, and Starlight elementary schools will receive their first year of the program.
District officials credit SIPPS with a dramatic increase in student reading scores from the fall to winter semesters.
The program comes with a $131,860 price tag.
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The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees will meet Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Watsonville City Council Chambers on the top floor of the Civic Plaza at 275 Main St. in Watsonville. For information, visit www.pvusd.net.
