Parents protest radio ID tags for students
 

SUTTER, California (AP) -- The only grade school in this rural town is requiring students to wear radio frequency identification badges that can track their every move. Some parents are outraged, fearing it will rob their children of privacy.

The badges introduced at Brittan Elementary School on January 18 rely on the same radio frequency and scanner technology that companies use to track livestock and product inventory.

While similar devices are being tested at several schools in Japan so parents can know when their children arrive and leave, Brittan appears to be the first U.S. school district to embrace such a monitoring system.

Civil libertarians hope to keep it that way.

"If this school doesn't stand up, then other schools might adopt it," Nicole Ozer, a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union, warned school board members at a meeting Tuesday night. "You might be a small community, but you are one of the first communities to use this technology."

The system was imposed, without parental input, by the school as a way to simplify attendance-taking and potentially reduce vandalism and improve student safety. Principal Earnie Graham hopes to eventually add bar codes to the existing IDs so that students can use them to pay for cafeteria meals and check out library books.

But some parents see a system that can monitor their children's movements on campus as something straight out of Orwell.

"There is a way to make kids safer without making them feel like a piece of inventory," said Michael Cantrall, one of several angry parents who complained. "Are we trying to bring them up with respect and trust, or tell them that you can't trust anyone, you are always going to be monitored and someone is always going to be watching you?"

Cantrall said he told his children, in the 5th and 7th grades, not to wear the badges. He also filed a protest letter with the board and alerted the ACLU.

Graham, who also serves as the superintendent of the single-school district, told the parents that their children could be disciplined for boycotting the badges -- and that he doesn't understand what all their angst is about.

"Sometimes when you are on the cutting edge, you get caught," Graham said, recounting the angry phone calls and notes he has received from parents.

Each student is required to wear identification cards around their necks with their picture, name and grade and a wireless transmitter that beams their ID number to a teacher's handheld computer when the child passes under an antenna posted above a classroom door.

Graham also asked to have a chip reader installed in locker room bathrooms to reduce vandalism, although that reader is not functional yet. And while he has ordered everyone on campus to wear the badges, he said only the 7th and 8th grade classrooms are being monitored thus far.

In addition to the privacy concerns, parents are worried that the information on and inside the badges could wind up in the wrong hands and endanger their children, and that radio frequency technology might carry health risks.

Graham dismisses each objection, arguing that the devices do not emit any cancer-causing radioactivity, and that for now, they merely confirm that each child is in his or her classroom, rather than track them around the school like a global-positioning device.

The 15-digit ID number that confirms attendance is encrypted, he said, and not linked to other personal information such as an address or telephone number.

What's more, he says that it is within his power to set rules that promote a positive school environment: If he thinks ID badges will improve things, he says, then badges there will be.

"You know what it comes down to? I believe junior high students want to be stylish. This is not stylish," he said.

This latest adaptation of radio frequency ID technology was developed by InCom Corp., a local company co-founded by the parent of a former Brittan student, and some parents are suspicious about the financial relationship between the school and the company. InCom plans to promote it at a national convention of school administrators next month.

InCom has paid the school several thousand dollars for agreeing to the experiment, and has promised a royalty from each sale if the system takes off, said the company's co-founder, Michael Dobson, who works as a technology specialist in the town's high school. Brittan's technology aide also works part-time for InCom.

Not everyone in this close-knit farming town northwest of Sacramento is against the system. Some said they welcomed the IDs as a security measure.

"This is not Mayberry. This is Sutter, California. Bad things can happen here," said Tim Crabtree, an area parent.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/02....ap/index.html

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I really think this is scary. Is vandalism that out of control at this school that they need to keep track of where every single student is every moment?

I think school IDs are a good thing. Make the kids carry them in their pocket. Using them to pay for lunch is a valid idea. My high school ID had my bus route listed, my athletics pass, my library pass, and whether or not I was allowed to go off campus for lunch. I could put money on it to buy food too.

I think the principal claiming he will punish students who don't wear the IDs because their parents don't want them to is going a little too far. I hope these parents pull their kids out of this school and send them somewhere else if they're really that uncomfortable with it.

I could see using this system for students with disabilities being included in classrooms with students without disabilties. (Although, most of the time, they have some sort of tracking device on them anyway.)

But for kids without disabilities? Are we really that close to having bar codes tattooed on us? I didn't know cutting class was THAT bad. It's a rural town. I'm not sure how far kids can go anywhere interesting without a car.

Though this thing kind of reminds me of the Maurauder's Map in the Harry Potter series: where a map was created and it shows where EVERYONE was and where they were headed. I just got that visual. :D

That is outrageous. If the teachers are so stupid they can't take attendance or supervise the locker rooms, maybe they need to hire someone new.

I agree completely. I think the attendance-taking thing is so incredibly lazy it's not even funny. And what elementary school teacher isn't going to notice that a student isn't there anyway?

What privacy issues are there?

You are in school. Teachers want to know where you are. I want to know what possible pirvacy issues there are here. Is it finding out you pulled the fire alarm on your bathroom break? What privacy is there that needs to be protected here.

-Rudey

what tracking device are you talking about for children with disabilities? i've never heard of such a thing.

i have 5 children with disabilities (classified) in my classroom and have never heard of a tracking device for any kids.

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it sounds like a great idea if the school is having security issues. other than that, i can't see the need for it. as long as it's not linked to personal information, what's the big deal.

What happens if a student loses their id tag? Or two or three decide to swap tags?

Not liking this idea at all!

I saw it on an episode of Extreme Home Makeover. The parents had a child that was blind and had autism... and also liked to bolt out of the house. The crew planted tracking devices in his PJs so if he were to get out of bed and disappear from the house, it would alert local law enforcement.

I'm sure it's quite expensive and I will go back on my original statement and say that "most" probably don't have access to it. But it seemed like a really neat idea, just in case the children started wandering.

oh i see what you mean. i saw that episode too. a child with autism is a whole different story than what i thought you meant by a child with disabilities.

we have IPC at my school (a special program for children with autism). each child has a personal one on one aide who stays with the kid the whole day. those kids can't go anywhere without the aide present. i don't think they'd really need id tags, but i can definitely see how other kids could.

dude, kid tracker 2000, what the f...?!? No way, I don't care what the purpose is...

Re: Parents protest radio ID tags for students
 

Dude, this is the purpose.

Absolutely repulsive.

Looks like the problem took care of itself.