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RAYTOWN, Mo. — One local school district unveiled a brand new layer of security this year to monitor who goes in and out of the buildings.

It’s facial recognition technology, and it’s raising the bar for school security.

There are currently 100 security cameras at Raytown High School, and nearly 1,000 cameras around the Raytown School District. Assistant Superintendent Travis Hux said they’ll now be using these existing cameras to implement facial recognition technology.

“The facial recognition technology would become the first layer of security for us,” Hux said.

The system will instantly recognize anyone listed on the sex offender registry or expulsion list and sent our a text alert to school security.

“If you just let them in, you have given up that layer of security. You`re now decreasing the amount of time staff have should something bad happened,” Hux said.

The new system will continue to operate long after the school day.

“These days, whether it is Raytown or somewhere else, we have a lot of security features in place from 8 to 3 o’clock. It’s the events open to the general public that could use some improvement nationwide,” Hux said.

Right now, both high schools within the Raytown School District have this new facial recognition technology. District leaders want to expand that to every building.

“If we get the Department of Justice grant, we will be able to do this at every school, every day” Hux said.

Leaders at Raytown School District expect to hear back about the half million dollar grant within the next couple weeks. If approved, the goal is to have the new technology up and running at every elementary and middle school building by the second semester.

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