RICHLAND (WACH) -- Officials in Richland School District Two are tapping in to new technology that keeps students safe.
North Springs Elementary and Catawba Trail Elementary are the only two schools in the country that use the KidGopher technology. Keeping students safe at school is the driving force behind the new system.
Parent Ariel Magner uses KidGopher to pick up her children.
“You can’t trust people these days they can easily snatch your kid up and you know with this it really helps out a lot,” said Magner.
To use the KidGopher system, a teacher scans the parent’s KidGopher card with an iPod. The parent’s picture appears with the names of the children that parent is approved to pick up. The teacher visually confirms the match to ensure no one else has the card. The teacher taps the names of the children on the iPod which makes the names appear on a screen in the cafeteria where the children wait. At the exit, another teacher with an iPad that has the name of child and their picture verifies the student’s identity as they exit the cafeteria and head to their parent’s car.
Denise Barth, Principal of Catawba Trail Elementary, joined forced with Cynergi Systems as they developed the technology.
“Those parents send me the most precious part of their life every single day…their children are going to learn they are going to be challenged this is a rigorous environment but the bottom line is if their children aren’t safe nothing else can happen,” Barth said.
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