There is one school district in Cedar Rapids, which is now availing of their building entry system which monitors and records who makes it in and out of school buildings. It is a way of ensuring that our members of staff and pupils are kept safe as well as to stop anti-social behavior says officials at College Community School District. The device is similar to an intercom, the visitors will be required to press a button and asked to identify themselves, and a member of staff inside the building will then decide whether or not it is safe to allow the person access.

Scott Shipper, principle of Prairie Heights Elementary says, “It’s the ultimate security guard, as it does help us control who comes in and who doesn’t.” The new security system which has been installed at Prairie Heights Elementary is meant to allow a watchful eye on visitors. “If we can do or put anything in place that will at least slow something down or help us to maybe prevent something, we need to try," he added.

The system overall costs $4,000 per district building but with the continuous news of school shootings occurring some parents have said that it is needed. Shipper says that the school after doing an audit of all their safety procedures decided that their best solution was to look into a building security system. One parent, Samantha Ironside said, “Safety is the number one priority of all the students and anything you can put in place that will help that is definitely a good idea. You always have the other sense that anything could happen but it definitely could buy a little bit of time. "

Officials have stated that while the system may not stop a possible incident, the 30 to 40 seconds it gives them is what could help prevent it from happening. "It buys us time that we didn't have before," Shipper said. It’s not just college community that's now upping their security systems. As of this past summer all Cedar Rapids district buildings also have security cameras.”