FREE Standard Shipping Over $100

Tournament Time! Use MADNESS50 to take $50 off an order over $500. Save $150 on a purchase over $1,000 with MADNESS150.

Loading...
ID Zone Learning Center

Find answers to your questions about photo identification and plastic card printing!


How to Improve Visitor Management within Schools

With school violence and tragedies on campuses at an all-time high, school administrators are researching additional ways to ensure the safety and security of their students, staff and faculty. Schools understand the paramount importance of using ID cards for student and staff identification. But what about all the other people who enter your doors every day – from substitute teachers, teacher aids and parents to vendors and contractors?

When it comes to your school’s total security, it’s almost impractical to provide student and staff ID cards if you choose not to do anything about visitor management.

Visitor management is defined as the process of monitoring the access and whereabouts of non-employee individuals who visit your school building or facility. It puts accountability on both the person visiting a location and the person responsible for the visitor. Visitor badges offer visual identification of anyone temporarily authorized to be in your facility.

If your school facility still uses generic white name tags or simple visitor log books as your visitor management system, you’re taking a security risk with every new visitor that enters your school. Sure, these antiquated visitor management systems are about as simple as they come, and they’re inexpensive – in the short run. In the long run, however, visitor management should be a part of the overarching photo ID solution for your school.

Does your school’s security plan address visual ID for the visitors to your school? If it doesn’t, you’re missing a potentially significant security gap. Solid, all-encompassing photo ID programs include a visual ID strategy for employees and visitors. That’s why there’s never been a more optimal time to reevaluate what your educational facility has in place for its visitor management processes.

How to Choose a Visitor Management Solution for Your School

Because schools today demand more variety and custom solutions for visitor management, there are several options to choose from when it comes to managing the whereabouts of everyone who enters and exits your building. Before investing your time and money into a new visitor management system for your school, answering these questions can help you get started and determine your unique visitor management needs:

  • How many visitors does your school have on an average week?
  • Do you prefer to issue a paper badge or plastic badge to visitors?
  • Do you have a single visitor check-in station or multiple facilities/areas within your building?
  • Would you like your badges to have a self-expiration feature to avoid unauthorized use?
  • Would you like to add a barcode for easy check-in/check-out?

Entry-level Visitor Management

Expiring Visitor Badges

If your school experiences low to moderate visitor traffic, an entry-level visitor management program will provide exactly what you need. Hand-written expiring badges are perfect for schools that require visual security for their visitors. For both small and large educational facilities, it’s important to know who is in your building and how you can identify them.

You can launch this level of visitor management at your school with economically priced expiring log book and paper labels.

Expiring Log Book & Visitor Badges

The TEMPbadge expiring log book and visitor badges are a convenient sign-in system that records and documents all visitors, increasing security with a one-day expiration. The visitor’s information is hand-written on the badge and adhered to a visitor's clothing. The badge gradually expires, presenting a highly visible red color change, and no special hardware or software is needed.

Expiring temporary badges are the smart visual answer to helping increase awareness at your school. The time-sensitive color change of visitor badges helps easily identify authorized visitors, even from a distance. These specialized badges prevent unauthorized use or re-use of badges and are available in half-day, one-day, one-week and one-month increments. Best of all, there’s no need to collect expired badges once your visitor has left the premises.

TEMPbadge hand-written temporary badges are available in a variety of styles and time increments. You can even order custom printed expiring badges with your school name and logo, a very cost-effective solution for schools with many regular visitors.

You can also order badges that immediately turn blue when exposed to sunlight, making it impossible for visitors to leave the facility and return. Rely on these trusted benefits when using a TEMPbadge expiring log book and hand-written expiring visitor badges:

  • Visitor information is recorded
    As a school visitor, receptionist or security person fills out the badge, a duplicate record is being recorded at the same time. This provides schools with a permanent record of their visitors for future reference.
  • Sign-in information is not visible to other visitors
    This allows the visitor’s information to be protected from review not only by the public but also future visitors.
  • Self-expiring visitor badges
    The self-expiring badge displays a red-colored “VOID” once a school visitor has been on site for the allotted time, providing a layer of visual security. The color change also prevents tampering and reuse of the visitor badge.
  • Low-cost and easy-to-use
    For a nominal fee, the TEMPbadge Visitor Badge Log Book provides schools with a complete visitor management solution and an easier, more professional way to handle school visitors, contractors, vendors and other temporary guests.

Mid-level Visitor Management

For an extra layer of security, mid-level visitor management consists of custom and standard expiring visitor badges for your school – available in stickers or pre-printed badges. These types of badges monitor the time that school visitors spend within your building or location.

To launch this level of visitor management in your school, you’ll need printable visitor stickers and a visitor badge printer or scanner.

All expiring badges have a printable surface with a front and back part that includes the expiring bars of color. A chemical reaction begins when the front and back parts are combined, and the red bars slowly become more and more visible making an expired badge very easy to identify.

The time allotted for the badge to expire is dependent upon how long you’d like them to last. You can purchase expiring badge supplies that last up to 1 month or just a few hours. Until the backing shows and the badge has expired, it’s simple to distinguish which visitors have valid credentials and which do not.

There are a variety of options to choose from, including badges can be used along with a lanyard, badge clip or other badge accessory to effectively identify your school’s visitors.

Expiring Visitor Badge Options

    Printable – badges can be printed with a thermal printer
  • Blank or pre-printed – badges can be blank or pre-printed with Visitor, Substitute, Volunteer, Temporary, Contractor, etc.
  • Indicator stickers – turn any badge into an expiring badge with expiring stickers that can be attached to any badge
  • Expiration increments – badges can expire in a half-day, one day, one week or one month

Expiring Visitor Badge Benefits

Visitor tracking
With any printable expiring badge, you can print and track a unique barcode on the badge. This is ideal if you want to track members of a conference, contractors within a building, or even temporary employees within your building.

Visual security
The expiration process is a simple visual indicator of what visitors should still be allowed in your building and who should be asked to leave. Not even an expensive RFID card can provide the same level of visual accountability that an expiring badge can — at a fraction of the cost.

Brand awareness
Another benefit to a time expiring badge is the ability to increase brand awareness for your company. Rather than a simple adhesive, pen-written label, use a custom printed expiring badge to add your logo and create a more professional look. Providing a sharper looking badge can only increase confidence for prospective clients or business partners when deciding between you and a competitor. It is a great way to set an organization apart from the rest of the pack.


High-level visitor management

Optimize the entire visitor management process for your school – from registration and badge printing to tracking, reporting and auditing. Visitor management software and systems are both ideal for those who need an advanced way to manage a large number of visitors.

Visitor management systems are an all-in-one option that includes everything you’ll need to launch a successful program in a single package: expiring badges, visitor management software and a visitor badge printer. Some systems also include a camera or scanner, depending on how much data you intend to gather for anyone who enters your facility (e.g., driver’s license number, signature, photo, etc.).

Visitor management tracking software enables you to manage your school’s visitors, contractors and temporary employees quickly and with little effort. You can sign-in, print and record visitor badges with a single click, view pre-registered visitors and run visitor reports, create custom badge designs and more. Using a visitor tracking software program can provide these valuable benefits:

Implementation is simple and seamless
Not everyone is technically savvy, so visitor management software is easy to use. Once installed, you can start tracking school visitors and contractors right away.

  • Visitor badge creation is a snap.
    With the simple and intuitive design tools, almost anyone can create professional-looking visitor badges. With a step-by-step setup wizard and full library of visitor card samples, you can add text, shapes, barcodes, magnetic stripes, and more.
  • Easily manage your program with built-in tools.
    Visitor management software reporting tools gather visitor data (e.g., entering or leaving your facility) and store it in a database. You can generate various visitor activity reports like who is in, cardholder history, time and attendance or evacuation and then export for tracking and history.
  • It’s affordable…in the long run and the short run.
    The addition of a visitor tracking software program for your school is a wise security and integral decision for student and staff security. By tracking the non-student or non-staff visitors to your school, you create a heightened level of security, awareness and traceability.

ID Zone specializes in the latest visitor management products and systems. We can create a custom solution for your school facility based on your specific requirements – from a desktop printer, software and badges to additional badge accessories for displaying visitor credentials. Call a knowledgeable ID Expert at (800) 910-5987. 

Download the full survey results >>


Need to stock up on badge accessories? Shop accessories now!

Have questions or need assistance? Talk with an ID Expert at (800) 910-5987, Chat Live, or email us at sales@IDZone.com.

IDW-Handshake--blue