Security
The Merrillville Community School Corporation takes student and staff safety very seriously. Several measures have been taken to ensure a safe and secure learning environment is provided. Here are a few:
- All schools have certified and trained School Safety Specialists who get recertified each year through IDOE.
- The MCSC has two school resource officers focused primarily on Pierce Middle and Merrillville High School. They do assist in each K-6 building as well.
- Each school goes through security training and all prescribed state drills including fire, tornado, and disaster.
- Each Merrillville school uses the Raptor ID system to screen visitors entering the school.
- Each school also has a secure entryway so that during school hours, visitors must press a "call button" to get "buzzed in" to the front office.
- All schools and all buses are provided with high-tech safety features including video surveillance.
- Local and county police train frequently in each of our school buildings to prepare for any situation. This enables the police to be familiar with the Merrillville buildings' layout to help in an emergency.
- Merrillville High School has random contraband searches with local police, occasionally using drug-sniffing dogs.
- Each school has a safety team that annually reviews and updates its school safety plan.
- All staff has identification key cards to identify themselves as staff and to allow entry into their building during specific days/times.
MCSC is administered with the practice of protecting all children as if they are their own. Student and staff safety is continually addressed and updated to keep safety in the forefront
Raptor Visitor Management
What is the RAPTOR system?
RAPTOR is a visitor registration system that enhances school security by reading visitor drivers’ licenses, comparing information to a sex offender database, alerting campus administrators if a match is found, then (assuming no match was made) printing a visitor badge that includes a photo.
What other information is the school taking from drivers’ licenses?
Raptor is only scanning the visitor’s name, date of birth and photo for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders. Additional visitor data will not be gathered and no data will be shared with any outside company or organization. See privacy and security information located at the end of this document.