Student IDs

Being able to identify who should or should not be in a school building is very important for safety and security. Everyone wearing masks has made it a little more difficult to specifically identify students, which is part of what has driven the district to put a little more measures into place, including hoods not being allowed inside the building. However, a new rule has just begun to take place- every student must wear their school ID on a lanyard around their neck at all times. This is used as another source of identification to determine who should and should not be in the school building.

Being able to identify a student is very important. Having someone who is not authorized to be in our building can be a significant safety hazard. In fact, an incident took place about a month ago in which an unidentified adult woman was in the building, which caused us to go on a soft lockdown. The new ID rule is absolutely necessary for multiple reasons. Not only does it serve as a helpful source of identification, but school IDs can be bus passes for students, and allow students to access extracurricular activities without any charge. However, this new rule does not come easy to everyone. ID cards could be an invasion of privacy for some, with your name and photo being visible to everyone. This could make some people feel insignificant. It is also easy for students to forget their IDs at home, with all of the things we have to do to get ready in the morning; it takes a while to build a new habit. And, although teachers are easily able to recognize their students even without an ID, this could be especially helpful for emergency personnel who don’t personally know the students. There are a lot of “ifs”, “ands”, and “buts” for this new rule, however, it is for the better overall because of the enhancement in security, which is crucial for our safety in our school.

Extra measures on security are in hopes of making students feel more comfortable going to school and have a more safe learning environment. The more we put into the school ID program, the safer students and staff will be.