This article, originally published by Al Zucaro on BocaWatch.org, is preserved for historical purposes by Massive Impressions Online Marketing in Boca Raton.
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Are these new student ID badges an effective means to keep kids safe or a poorly thought out reaction to recent concerns about school safety?
We all want our kids to be more safe, but is it possible that student ID badges are making them less safe? Could the requirement for students to always wear them actually be creating a more stressful and dehumanizing environment, exacerbating incidents they’re intended to prevent?
I originally wrote this article a month ago while school was still in session. After talking to Frank Barbieri about it and asking faculty and staff their opinions on the issue I decided to hold off on publishing it until after the school year had ended. I almost decided to let the issue alone until I was reminded, in a comment from a reader, that PTSA funds were being used to pay for the ID badges. My hope is that Mr. Barbieri and the rest of the school board weight the costs to safety, cost of faculty attention and dollar costs, to students especially, of having badges versus the actual safety benefit these plastic panaceas provide.
Written April 2018
This morning my kid called me all stressed and panicked as he got off the school bus at school. He had forgotten his ID badge. He needed me to bring it to him. Of course I grabbed it and rushed out the door. I arrived just as the final bell was ringing, just as students were being called into class. I parked my car in front of the school and walked into the office, where he said he would be. He wasn’t there. I don’t know where he was but the office was much more chaotic than I had remembered it from the last couple times I visited. It was frenzied. Both people behind the desks were on the phone and there was easily a dozen people or more standing around the counter – faculty, parents, even students who weren’t in class. I held up my kid’s ID badge to signal that was what I was there for. The nice lady behind the desk was doing her absolute best juggling me and three other people besides who was on the phone. She gestured to me that I should place the student ID badge on a pile of student ID badges in front of her: at least four other badges. I asked her: “Are all these other student ID badges from parents like me who dropped them off now too?” She nodded, rolled her eyes and gave me a “what can you do” smile.
I don’t know how they got the badge to my son, but I imagine that it takes more than a few minutes effort from someone competent each day to get it done. Maybe they bring the badges to the students. Maybe they ask the students to come and get them. It was unclear whether students who had forgotten their ID badges, only to have their ID badges arrive late, get some kind of punishment, or reprimand. Maybe their only punishment is to get taken out of class so they can come get their badges themselves. I don’t know. The enforcement and interpretation of the new “rules” are left up to the whim of the administration and faculty.
You might say to yourself, “It’s for safety, so of course. All this extra effort is worth it.” You might not think too much more about it. That’s what most people do. They don’t question it. They just accept it. It’s a necessary cost because the thing you’re trying to prevent with it is so unthinkably horrible.
Just because it’s so unthinkably horrible doesn’t mean you’re excused from thinking about it, being truly responsible for it, and questioning even your best intentions.
Requiring Students ID Badges Makes Kids Less Safe
How could I say something so counter-intuitive? How could a safety measure all the moms of the PTSA unanimously agreed is necessary, to keep their children safe, might actually be something that can put their kids in more danger? How can this be?
Let’s take a breath and examine the holistic dynamic of the solution against the problem. It’s quite simple: it adds stress to the kid’s lives. Stress they don’t deserve. It adds stress that might be one more brick in the wall that separates the kid from reaching their potential; stress that might push a troubled kid over the edge. Do ALL the kids really need one more level of stress, one more way to be punished, one more albatross hung around their neck that makes them unable to forget the horrible nightmare crimes of another kid who was close by and got expelled? Does the PTSA need these kids to never forget, a PTSD with their personal names on it, that they’ll be punished for forgetting?
Even before that, the other week I was riding my kid into school early. He had agreed to take advantage of an extra-math-help opportunity that started an hour before school started. Several faculty members wake up extra early too and make sure they’re there for an extra hour of their day to give kids who are struggling some extra help. I’m extra grateful there are not only teachers willing to do this, but that the school allows them to do it one hour early too. And of course I’m grateful that my kid sees the opportunity and I don’t need to remind him or push him to go.
On the ride in he was telling me about how he needed this extra help because a test was coming up and this was his one chance to get the help before the test. I reminded him to thank his teacher for coming in early so the teacher would be extra happy to teach harder. The idea of his teacher “teaching harder” made him laugh.
As we pulled up to the school he reached into his backpack, into the pocket where he had agreed to keep his ID badge. A look of panic came over his face. “You left your badge home, didn’t you.” I said. “I can’t go in without it dad.” And then a look of defeat came over him. His 12 year old brain put the pieces together: he was going to miss this extra help. He wasn’t going to understand what he needed to for the test. “What do you want to do? I guess we have to go home and get it, right?” “Yeah dad.” We went home. He got his badge. There wasn’t enough time to get to school in time for the extra help so he rode the bus in with his brother.
I could tell he wasn’t feeling his best, and that some overdue father-son time was needed, and I did all that a dorky dad can do. And his mom is always there for him, hates to see him sad. But young men, no matter how much support they have, have hormones and self-introspection they have to face. I went through it. I’ve seen my friends go through it. Some have been more or less emotional than others, more or less successful often do to how they are supported.
Some kids don’t have dads who bring them their badges. Maybe their dads have long commutes north or south. Maybe their moms do too. Or maybe the kids don’t have one or the other. Maybe a parent is just gone, and nothing happens when a kid forgets their badge – maybe the kid just has to pay for it – suck it up and deal one more time reminded that there’s a hole in their lives. Some kids don’t have moms and dads working together as partners, able to team up and be there for the extra help when it’s needed. Just like not every faculty member can afford to get up early and put one more extra hour in, some parents just can’t afford to be there. And when their kid forgets their badge – its not just the kid who pays. I have the luxury of working from home, from being able to help my kid. I don’t have to feel the stress and pain of not being able to like so many parents have to feel. As “inconvenient” it is for me to have to bring my kid’s badge in when he forgets I’d trade a hundreds trips back and forth to avoid not being able to even once when my kids need me. I’m not thumping my chest for making the choices I did to be around for my kids – I kiss the ground for being lucky enough to be able to make that choice. I realize most people don’t get to.
Is this extra burden we’re asking the kids to wear around their necks, the barcoded plastic “safety meausre” personalized for each of them, really worth the cost? Do we really need to remind the kids, stress them out, restrict them from what they’re there for in the first place, in order to make ourselves feel better? Are the badges made of kevlar? How do they make the kids safe exactly? Would not having a badge have stopped Nicholas Cruz from marching into Parkland High School? I don’t think so.
How is needing a badge going to do more than inconvenience my kid?
It’s not about your kid. It’s about the kid who is not anyone’s. It’s about the kid whose one parent would never have the time to make it so far into this article. It’s about the kid getting abused by one or more of the adults in their lives. It’s about someone who has to struggle just to pretend to be normal enough just to make it into school each day. It’s about the kld whose heart has been broken over and over. Do they need to be hassled about a badge? Do they need one more stress testing them, seeing how much they can take before they they themselves become broken? Even in Boca Raton, or Parkland, or wherever. Some messed up stuff is happening to a certain percentage of us right now. No magic or economics protects us from being human beings and not being perfect. You might be sitting on top now, but tomorrow the struggles could come. Even the most fortunate of us are not free from relationship dramas that sometimes cost everything.
Do we need to forget that there are people who don’t need one more level of stress, one more thing to distance themselves from their community, one more trigger than makes them lash out? Do we need that for ourselves, to forget the costs, to feel safer ourselves by forgetting others? Not everyone is as lucky as me, as lucky as you. Can’t we make it a little gentler place for them, not stack another burden on their backs?
I can see imposing extra burdens on faculty, on adults, on the system. But not the kids. Come on man…
After writing this reading it to my kids, particularly asking permission of my son to mention him, they informed me about what happens if an ID badge is lost. The student is required to PURCHASE another ID badge, at their own cost, at the school library/media center. The penalty for failing to purchase a new ID after one is lost is: detention. This might not seem like a big deal for forgetful kids who are well funded, but $5 might mean missing a couple lunches to others.
I’m not an expert in school safety, but I couldn’t help but share what I’ve experienced, what I know about student ID badges. I hope, since so many people have agreed that they’re beneficial, that someone who is an expert or who has good information about them can come forward and educate you and I about how they’re effective at improving safety. Any real-world experience and testimony with how student ID badges created a more safe environment is welcome.
Please, share your thoughts and ideas on this most important matter.
Why not hang a hook at the door where you most likely have your keys hanging for your kids ID Badge to hang, that way they can take it and if it’s missing you or your spouse will nag them to hang it there.
What about kids who get “Bus Passes” to commute to school, if they forget their pass they can’t get on the bus or train. Other kids have lunch passes, and if they forget those they don’t get lunch. I’m not a proponent of badges because I know they can be defeated, but responsibility has to be learned at some point.
So essentially you’re agreeing that they don’t have a benefit with regards to safety and that the only real “benefit” they might provide is a lesson in responsibility? With all those other lessons in responsibility that the kids already have, the ones you listed, is the “lesson” that is imparted by student ID cards really necessary?
I appreciate that ID Badges are considered necessary and I also agree with your position to question if the badges are really making students safer. I retired from Boca High in June 2017 where I was the administrator of the Adult & Community Education program. I have witnessed what was described as the flurry and panic of parents and students in the front office. Perhaps, the bigger safety issue is the nearly 3600 Boca High students on campus during school hours, in addition to the students participating in afternoon and evening activities. I believe that ID Badges are a “Noble Attempt” at school safety, but once school dismisses there is ample opportunity to enter the campus for various after school activities, facility leases, English and GED classes and at the peak of season multiple sporting events. No ID Badges are required after hours, as staff and security is severely limited with a Secretary, Assistant Principal and only part-time staff for oversight. Unless something has changed, only one Police Officer is funded Monday through Thursday from 7-10 pm during adult education activities. The day school administrators, office staff, teachers and School Police Officers leave by 4 pm. Unfortunately, there was no Police Officer from 4 – 7 pm, when many students remain on campus for activities until 6 pm, and I doubt that has changed due to funding. The truth is that there are so many holes in School District security that ID Badges are probably one of the least expensive attempts to quickly and safely identify students. The sense of false security in our schools has misplaced funding and now a crisis exists for something that was basically ignored for years. There was no buzzer system at Boca High while I was there and anyone could walk into the front office at anytime. I understand that has finally been installed this year. Many holes …..ID Badges are only the beginning.
If the entry systems to classrooms, buildings and even the school in general had locks that only opened for people with cards, like most Class A secure buildings do for authorized employees, then these ID systems would be practical. Now all that leverages the ID system is faculty, walking around trying to pay attention to other things simultaneously.
Don Estridge has biometric security I’ve heard. It would be cool to get someone’s opinion on how that works out.
Learning responsibility while making an effort in any way to increase the security protocols in schools should strongly be considered at all levels. Mr. Pelish, if you leave your home without your ID/Driver’s license and get stopped – should you be given a pass? I am certain Mr. Barbieri would not, not in today’s world where everyone who has a smartphone is a journalist. Raising 4 children, my wife and I encourage and endorse the idea of consequences should you forget the rules. Sure the consequences can be tough, but how else will you learn? It seems as though you are criticizing a way to promote further school safety for our children? Sorry, you are wrong here. Being soft is not the answer. Do you also believe that all children should be given a trophy if they participate in a sport? Shouldn’t winners be celebrated? Winners work hard at being responsible, shouldn’t we all? Albert Einstein once said, “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” When will the children today realize the benefit of working harder and being more responsible than their peers = further success? School Board members need your help, not criticism.
I am trying to help by pointing out something that’s ineffective at promoting safety, and could even lead to more violent incidents on account of a child on the edge having one more straw that breaks the camel’s back. I appreciate that you point out the element of teaching kids responsibility being the identifiable benefit of the cards.
Ok yes i get consequences but because we iv’e in a society I feel the more you try and discipline an issue that is not are fault and that is flawded the more we will push back through common sense, ust take a moment and think how might your kids feel before you comment cause Im a student at a highschool and Im senior and These idbades are creating issues for me and many others.
So i understand the stress about id badges Iv’e left mine at home a few times cause its an annoyance to wear and it always gets in the way so i take it off when i get home. Id badges are an attempt to make school safer but at the cost of disappointment. If you forget your id badge you must get a sticker although you would think they wouldn’t punish you for trying to be responsible but if you get another sticker you get a lunch detention and if you get a 3rd one you get a detention. Getting a sticker is a proof of being responsible although we are punish to try and be responsible. Good kids end up getting in trouble for trying to e goo kids just because they forget t wear there badge t school because stuff happens. These id badges need improvement cause now not only do you have to worry about school but also getting detention if you forget to wear your badge.
There is no proof of a problem!… where an ID badge would be an effective solution. The idea that badges are for “safety” is based on a false premise. The excuse that bringing badges teaches responsibility is pure nonsense… If the school believes it is for teaching responsibly then make it part of the curriculum! There are too many rules about uniforms and nonsense like badges in addition to an obsession with testing and excess homework. All while ignoring the fact that US public schools need major reformation. It’s 2019! The world has changed!
ID= bad i dont wanna be a prisoner