<p>In a local school…the school is instituting new ID badges.</p>
<p>The radio frequency ID cards also will act as a fob for tracking students location on school transportation and travel off-campus. school recently contracted with Zonar Systems to install RFID readers on all buses. Students will be asked to swipe their cards when they board and disembark the bus. Connected to a GPS system, the scanned cards provide real-time data about the students location when they are traveling between campuses, sporting events, field trips and other destinations. While this information is linked to the security office, it also can be accessed by students parents via a new smart phone app, which can be purchased and downloaded individually.</p>
<p>More information about the badges will be sent to parents, faculty and staff in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>New security measures also will be in place when guests come to campuses. … implementing a new Fast Pass Visitor Management system, which provides a criminal and predator database search with just a quick scan of the campus visitors drivers license. Guests who are cleared will receive a 24-hour pass that turns red when it expires.</p>
<p>Wow. That seems very extreme and Orwellian to me. Can parents opt out? I think I would have an issue with that level of “security”.</p>
<p>I can understand the criminal background check for teachers, personnel and other volunteers but for every visitor? At the school I teach at, any parent who wants to volunteer in the school has to have a background check but not necessarily visitors.</p>
<p>The driver’s license swipe only checks names and birth dates against a database. More false positives than you’d think, and not a background check in any meaningful sense of the word.</p>
<p>Your building entry card can already be used for some default tracking. I could set up my kids’ cells to let me know where they are. I think privacy considerations may require college kids to give authorization to parents to track them- no?</p>
<p>This is college or hs- or younger? I’m only finding one prep named.</p>
<p>I foresee a lot badges being left in study hall. Seriously, it’s probably a good thing for youngsters and not so good for high school age students.</p>
<p>Security for what? I swipe going in…and when I want to go off campus somewhere I don’t swipe going out. Or I don’t like somebody…take their card and swipe them out of school.
If actual GPS–here Joe, take my card so it looks like I’m with you.
Or conveniently lose it or forget it or the dog ate it.
I think it’s ridiculous. Great money for the security company though.</p>
<p>I think if it worked as it’s intended, it’s a good thing for security and safety. I personally don’t think it’s a “big brother” kind of thing. Or worth it to know where my kids are.</p>
<p>But as others have pointed out, it’s open to abuse that will cause a lot of problems.</p>
<p>Good luck in all of the issues that arise in these things. My kids can’t keep track of their cards and keys and that seems typical. An ear chip would work better, LOL. This can’t be a college, has to be a K-12 or thereabouts school, and it depends upon what the environemental issues the school has to deal with as to how much additional safety this will provide. For most schools, it’s a waste and will take a lot of time,money and pain in the neck. Heck, a lot of these schools can’t keep the assignment boards current after an initial focuse on the issue. So, the chances are good these things will fall to the wayside unless a zealous person is put in charge and want to keep it in place.</p>
<p>There will be bottlenecks at times when a lot of kids need to swipe cards, the cards may not work many times, or the swipe or the mechanism, or kids will forget and/or lose cards. I see a lot time and trouble that will need to be spent on this when the focus of schools is education. Teaching the academics.</p>
<p>And if they can get all that infor on the parents with a swipe of a driver’s license, ha and good for them. They may be surprised who the parents of their kids are.</p>
<p>That the technology is there can be beneficial in those cases where cyber stalking disturbed people who need it for a better chance to transition to more independence, including some of our children. What is frightening is the use and abuse that this technology makes possible.</p>
<p>I agree it’s creepy, in some cases. You can track a kid’s cell, see his calls on your phone bill, schools can keep a record of everyone who used keycard entry into that building. I have a U bus pass that tracks my rides. Then it gets more invasive- some article notes that Nordstrom is tracking your cell to see what displays you linger at or which depts you spend more time in. I went to a paint store and that afternoon got a retail post on my FB. You know about geo tagging via photos you post?</p>
<p>At least the school is trying to keep track of students- since the wording is same as the OP, it seems this is for k-12 kids. For now.</p>
<p>I realize this isn’t NSA and cell phones and yes we have our lives followed by grocery stores, FB, CC, amazon etc etc.</p>
<p>I am not clear that this solves any issues --</p>
<p>Would this prevent a Columbine? No, because the kid would be on campus…same with Va Tech.<br>
Would it prevent an employee issue? No, because an employee would be on campus.</p>
<p>Stranger danger/stranger on campus? This doesn’t prevent the public from walking on a school’s campus. Consider every school tour you have ever attended?</p>
<p>Blue light systems, ID cards that screen kids into dorms/floors/education buildings etc are meant to add safety. Parents already get alerts from colleges when there are issues…whether it be weather related or predatory.
I wonder how common this system is now</p>
, wondering why a kid would help the creepy big brother find a safety school. </p>