With more than half of the nation’s Top 200 school districts (51 percent) returning to full in-person learning this month and nearly all U.S. schools planning to reopen in Fall 2021, schools are adding technology and software to implement detailed contact tracing and COVID-19 health screenings for students, staff, and visitors. Additionally, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act provides $126 billion to K-12 schools to help fund the reopening process. With ARP, COVID-19 relief plans now total over $193 billion for K-12 schools. This new funding covers key areas like addressing learning loss by hiring additional educators, funding crucial summer, afterschool, and other extended learning and enrichment programs, and implementing strategies to meet the social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs of students hit hardest by the pandemic. To help districts and schools meet these challenges the Raptor School Safety Suite is available as an allowable expense under the COVID-19 relief funding, including those in CARES, CRRSA, and ARP.

Raptor Health Screening allows schools to screen students, staff, and visitors for COVID-19 exposure and produce contact tracing reports in real-time. Integrated with Raptor Visitor Management, screenings can be performed either remotely or on-site. Additionally, as contractors are coming onsite, for example, to repair and upgrade buildings to improve air quality, visitor management software provides peace of mind as it can screen for sex offenders and keep track of who has entered and exited your facility.

Educators know firsthand that the current prolonged period of remote learning has come at a cost. From rising rates of depression and anxiety to the loss of student learning, districts will need volunteers, part-time staff, contractors, and additional teachers to help students catch up. Raptor Volunteer Management provides your school with user-friendly software that includes an integrated online volunteer application, full criminal background checks, volunteer hour tracking, event management, and robust reporting –all things schools need to keep students safe while they work back to grade-level.

The additional consequence of prolonged physical distancing, social isolation, and the absence of in-person learning will have a compounded negative impact on student behavior as they return to the classroom. Unfortunately, this could manifest itself as violence, creating an unsafe environment for students and staff. Raptor Emergency Management serves as a platform for schools to implement safety protocols and best practices to help staff deliver the right level of response to both small-scale and large-scale events. Whether it’s responding to a potential case of COVID-19 with a nurse, a fight in the hallway with a counselor, or full-scale campus emergency with first responders, Raptor Emergency Management gives your district the tools to prepare, respond, and recover from any incident.

For nearly 20 years, Raptor Technologies has been the nation’s leading provider of school safety software solutions. Today, over 35,000 K-12 schools nationwide are protected by Raptor. To learn more, visit www.raptortech.com to request a personalized demo.

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