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Texas Schools Using Electronic Chips To Track Students; Parents In Uproar

Posted by timothy on from the does-your-body-belong-to-the-state? dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Two Schools in San Antonio are using electronic chips to help administrators count and track students' whereabouts. Students at Anson Jones Middle School and John Jay High School are now required to wear ID cards using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology embedded with electronic chips in an effort to daily attendance records. The article said the Northside Independent School District receives about $30 per day in state funding for each student reporting."

3 of 540 comments (clear)

  1. Do what with daily records? by mrbene · · Score: 4, Informative

    I guess I should RTFA, but:

    in an effort to daily attendance records.

    I don't know what that means...

  2. same electronic chips by nimbius · · Score: 4, Informative

    are used in their parents badges when they go to work. Its how they open doors and clock in. Recalling from my youth, kids have had ID badges since about 1996, theyve had to be visually verified in most cases before you can leave the lobby and enter your class at the start of the day. somehow the texan that wrote this article thinks by saying "electronic chips" and "children" in the same sentence, im supposed to get outraged.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  3. Re:Microwaves are fun. by QuasiSteve · · Score: 5, Informative

    Jimmy now has an alibi because attendance is determined via RFID (and he turned in his homework).

    Then the police look into the alibi and determine that it's just a chip. They talk to the techs just to make sure their suspicions on the validity of chips for tracking is correct; they are not reliable enough to stand up in the court of law.

    So they go to the school and ask the teacher and kids if they remember seeing Jimmy on the day of so-and-so. His girlfriend swears he was there, but they find her not to be a reliable witness - being his girlfriend and all. Others, however, only recall his badge sitting lonely at his desk.

    The police then review the hallway security cameras, and put the feed next to the badge ID logs. Sure enough, when his girlfriend enters, two IDs are logged; hers, and Jimmy's. When she leaves again, two IDs are logged; hers and Jimmy's.

    The police collect the information as evidence, take down formal testimonies, and write up a report as to Jimmy's claimed alibi.

    Jimmy is found to have lied to the police, and the police find themselves armed with another argument in an eventual court case, and more leeway in the investigation. His girlfriend will be brought in for further questioning and may eventually be charged with aiding and abetting.

    Whether or not Jimmy would be tried, let alone convicted, is another matter altogether. But his alibi would be shot down long before that.

    Real life just doesn't always fit with people's idealistic views that all cops are stupid and/or lazy and/or corrupt.