School Officials Make ID Badges Mandatory for Elementary Students

[villager]

School Officials Make ID Badges Mandatory for Elementary Students

SUTTER, Calif. (AP) -- Parents of Sutter elementary students told school officials Thursday they're concerned about the school's new policy that requires students to wear security badges. Brittan Elementary School District Superintendent Earnie Graham said the school is doing a test run to see if the technology improves campus security.

The badges contain a "passive antenna" that emit radio waves to a reader mounted above the doorway in each classroom. The readers picks up the child's ID number and sends it to a handheld computer that tracks attendance.

But parent Dawn Cantrall said the badge was "creepy and cumbersome," and complained that it had too much information on it, including a student's picture, full name and identification number. "Now somebody can come up to her, see her name, and tell her, 'Your mom told me to pick you up,"' she said.

<snip>

"It's not an option," Graham said. "(The badge) is just like a textbook, you have to have it. I'm charged with running the school district and I get to make those kinds of rules."

The badges are supplied by InCom, a technology firm based in Sutter. The owners offered the school a small donation for the inconvenience of testing the badges and attendance scanners.

http://www.kfwb.com/content.asp?table1tabCount=6&table1tabOn=1&table2tabCount=6&table2tabOn=1&displayOption=&contentGUID={3A6F15C4-447C-4DB8-B795-8B9EB7BFFDAB}&groupName=KFWB%20News%20Local%20Headlines&siteGUID={3B62BF55-4A93-48E6-A45D-6A495DC423AD}