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Visitors to any of Frederick County Public Schools' 66 buildings must put their name on a sign-up sheet to enter. But at Kemptown Elementary School in Monrovia, visitors now must hand over a driver's license.

A newly installed small electronic device — similar to a credit card reader — allows staff to scan a license and within seconds find out if a visitor is a registered sex offender who has no permission to be on school grounds.

The electronic scanner is part of a new security system that Frederick County Public Schools has been testing at Kemptown Elementary for the last few weeks, according to the school system's security coordinator Cliff Cornwell.

The system at Kemptown consists of a small scanner, a printer and a Web camera, which snaps a shot of every visitor who enters the school. The scanner connects to the Internet through any computer and checks if the name of a visitor appears on the National Registry of Sex Offenders.

If the check is negative, the system prints out a stick-on visitor's pass and the visitor is free to enter the school. If it is positive, and the visitor is trying to enter the school illegally, staff can immediately notify the police.

"We test things like that all the time," Cornwell said.

The school system received the device for a free trial. After the trial period at Kemptown, Cornwell will ask school staff for feedback. If the system is working effectively, it may be considered as a security improvement for all schools in the system in future.

"This isn't a good time to be purchasing new things," Cornwell said. "But it may be something that we can look into in future."

While Frederick County Public Schools have a number of electronic security systems in place, such as electronic cards for staff, security cameras and intercoms, no others are specifically targeted at keeping sex offenders off school property.

Brandy Shafer, coordinator for the sex offender program at the Frederick County Sheriff's Office, said that she keeps the school system updated on registered sex offenders every six months. She confirms sex offenders' location every six months and then sends all names and addresses to Frederick County Public Schools.

Sex offenders in Maryland cannot be on school property unless they have a specific purpose (such as to pick up their children) and a letter of permission from the Frederick County Public Schools system, Shafer said.

Currently, Frederick County has 180 registered sex offenders, Shafer said.

E-mail Margarita Raycheva at mraycheva@gazette.net.