At Griffiths Middle School there is a new policy this school year that enforces that staff and students must wear their school ID and it must be visible at all times during school hours. The issue is that most kids don’t wear their IDs like they are supposed to. This policy was first installed at the beginning of the first semester. The purpose of these school IDs is to ensure that everyone that is on campus is supposed to be there. Another purpose for student IDs is to scan for PBIS reward points or to scan for lunch in the cafeteria. PBIS rewards is a system for Griffiths students to earn points during school by being a good citizen. These points can be used in the classroom to buy things such as homework/late passes, listen to music in class, and bring food to class. Those points can also be used at the Griffiths Character Counts Store to buy things such as water bottles, earphones, chapstick, pencils, and Griffiths hats.
Ms. Santana an employee at Griffiths says, “I think school IDs are appropriate so we know that all of our students are on campus and those who don’t have an ID don’t belong here.” Ms. Santana believes that more kids should wear their school IDs even if it may not match their outfit or because they think that they’re “too cool”. “Everyone should be identified at all times, just in case of an emergency”, she said.
Karen Hernandez a sixth grader thinks most kids don’t wear their IDs because they have either lost theirs, forget it at home, or just find it uncomfortable. ” I don’t wear my ID every day but I always keep it in my backpack just in case,” says Karen ” But I do find it easier now to scan my ID for PBIS points.”
Most students no longer wear their student IDs around their necks or with the retractable clip that go on their pants, but maybe more kids should. School IDs help ensure our safety by allowing us to know that everyone at school is supposed to be there and help us identify someone that could potentially be dangerous. Since most kids don’t usually wear their IDs it makes it harder for us to be secure. People seem to just ignore the fact that there could be a possible disaster that might need students to identify one another just to make sure we are safe at all matters. Many people feel as if IDs are unnecessary and not needed at all, which is totally incorrect according to teachers.
