Flandreau schools now require a front-door ID to enter buildings.

It’s a commentary on the times: school kids must be safe in their classrooms, and parents need to know their kids are being protected.

In Flandreau, school officials don’t take their responsibility lightly, and so on Monday, they will activate a new video monitor security system at the public schools.

If you want into a school building after classes have begun, you’ll have to identify yourself – on camera.

The new Video Sentry system requires people who wish to enter any of the three school buildings during school hours, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., to identify themselves by talking to someone from the school office via video monitor.

The new equipment has been installed at the front of the high school near the main doors and in front of the elementary school by the main entrance, according to Flandreau School Superintendent Rick Weber.

“It’s a little camera with video and audio by the front doors, so it’s very similar to ringing a doorbell in a house,” he said. “You ring the doorbell, it comes into the secretary, the secretary asks you who you are and what you need, and you tell them. And if the secretary recognizes you and that sort of thing, they let you in.”

The units, which were approved by the Flandreau School Board earlier this month, cost $700 each, Weber said. The high school monitor is for both the high school and middle school.

Weber said the monitors are meant to provide extra security, and that no particular incident led to their installation.

“It just goes along with our crisis management plan and security for our kids,” he said.

Information regarding the new system and how to use it was provided in the October school newsletter.

While Brookings schools generally permit entry at each building’s main door, visitors to grade and intermediate schools may not simply walk through the halls.

Both Hillcrest and Medary elementary schools require that a member of the staff buzz visitors through the main entrance to enter classroom areas where children are located.

At Camelot Intermediate School, interior doors remain electronically locked throughout the day, and visitors have no choice but to enter the school through the office and wait for staff to unlock doors that lead out of the office and into the school.

At Brookings High School and Mickelson Middle School, visitors are able to freely enter the schools, but security cameras at the entrances of both schools allow staff to monitor anyone entering the building.