Going too far? High school student suspended for refusing to wear GPS tracker

[Spinor]

This would probably be preventable by not making RFID's mandatory, but attach certain privileges to them and force that the parents waive certain rights if the RFID is not worn.

However, I do believe RFIDs should be a last resort, specifically, for schools that simply cannot maintain a high student-to-faculty ratio. A school which a high ratio does not need RFIDs because students will have enough supervision and contact. Not to mention that you wouldn't need to worry about students leaving if you actually had some sort of fence anyways.

As stupid as I think this girl's family is, there's no reason to fight stupidity with stupidity. RFID's shouldn't be mandatory. There should be alternatives with nonlethal consequences.

 

[Zet]

RFIDs only have a max range of about 16 feet. So, uh... case closed?

This would probably be preventable by not making RFID's mandatory, but attach certain privileges to them and force that the parents waive certain rights if the RFID is not worn.

However, I do believe RFIDs should be a last resort, specifically, for schools that simply cannot maintain a high student-to-faculty ratio. A school which a high ratio does not need RFIDs because students will have enough supervision and contact. Not to mention that you wouldn't need to worry about students leaving if you actually had some sort of fence anyways.

As stupid as I think this girl's family is, there's no reason to fight stupidity with stupidity. RFID's shouldn't be mandatory. There should be alternatives with nonlethal consequences.

Well roll call hardly works these days, so please explain other better methods than RFID.

 

[Spinor]

Well roll call hardly works these days, so please explain other better methods than RFID.

What do you mean roll call hardly works? It definitely works versus just giving my RFID card to a friend in my class, if the presence of my card is what the system is looking. See how pisspoor the engineering behind these RFID cards are?

 

[Frostweaver]

But it's no longer the responsibility of the school to ensure the safety of it's students after they leave school grounds, so it still poses the question of why.

I'm not sure how American schools work in general and I know that the exact details vary from state to state, but at least as a teacher in Alberta, Canada, we're definitely responsible by law of the safety of our students as long as they're enrolled in the school, regardless if the student is on school property. Once a student is enrolled to the school, they are entrusted to the school and its staff from that time period. The teacher and the students have an established fiduciary relationship during school hours such that the teacher has responsibility by law to act as a "reasonable parent" in the parents' absence which includes, ensuring the safety of the students at all times.

So yes, if a student skips school but gets into trouble, the school is still held responsible as a "reasonable parent" and can be sued under negligence in Canada, unless the school and its staff can provide evidence that they've done everything "reasonable" to ensure student attendance to protect them from all harm, including harm from the student him/herself.

"Reasonable" is up for interpretation by the judge and everyone else. Apparently in this case, it's by these chips. Do I somewhat see the point? Yes. Do I think that the student is overreacting? Yes. Do I think that this is a good use of school resource or a good way to handle the problem of truancy? No.

 

[Shiny Celebi]

Schools have to make sure students are safe on campus somehow. The fact is things have happened an crazy people have caused harm to people in schools before. It seems that these cards only serve to let the school know where a student is on campus, nothing more. I fail to really see the big deal.

 

[Bounsweet]

Like aforementioned I thought this was going to be way worse than it is. This can be both effective and ineffective in combating truancy, it depends on the situation.

If a student is skipping school and they know about these chips (which they do) then they won't all hang out in the bathroom or under some bleachers where they can be seen. They'll be off school grounds, which could just be tagged as an absence unless the whole excused vs unexcused absences are still heavily monitored.

 

[Esper]

If I had one of these and wanted to skip school I'd just leave the card somewhere, or with a friend. That is, if the cards only track whether you're on campus or not. I don't know enough about these things to know if they can do that and only that. If they were able to track you from room to room that would be a little much (but harder to cheat).

Anyway, I don't see this being the slippery slope that some have said it is. As long as we maintain the stance that tracking is for attendance purposes this won't get out of hand. Especially in public schools where there is no shortage of concerned parents. Private schools are where I'd be worried about more fascist implementation of technology like this since those kinds of schools have less oversight.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

Look, this isn't the government at all. This isn't a weird cyborg-chip from The Terminator or something. She could've just left it at home if she wanted. My school requires me to carry around my student ID, but I don't, and they haven't really cared much.

Trust me, if we're okay with it, then nobody will tell if it's a tyranny. And honestly, who cares? If we can't tell, then it's fine. But once more of us can tell, we will revolt. That's the way life works, and this, really?, has nothing to do with the invasion of liberty.

Civics 101: Public schools are the government. She indeed did choose to leave it at home, and she was suspended and threatened with expulsion. Luckily, a judge has ruled in her favor.

Not being aware of tyranny doesn't mean that it's not there. In fact, tyranny is most effective when those who are subjected to it either don't know, or don't care. This has everything to do with liberty. Doesn't the prospect of the government tracking your every move disturb you, just a little?

 

[Shiny Celebi]

Freaky, it isnt like that. Its a school trying to make sure it's students actually attend class. They want to know that the students are on campus, I dont see why that's a big deal at all. I wouldnt call this tyranny.

 

[Keiran]

I don't get the point of it. Isn't this what roll call is for? If students are ditching classes wouldn't hiring security guards be more effective? My high school had someone watching each entrance, it was impossible to leave without permission. This sounds like it will still allow truancy, but the students will be punished. So why is this students school combating truancy using a strategy that promotes punishment rather than one that gives a complete inability to ditch?

Though, her and her parents argument against the GPS tracking is completely illogical and idiotic.

 

[Oryx]

Some more information for people that didn't read beyond the original article: the chips are also meant to make the campus more secure and streamline buying things on campus. For example, the doors to the cafeteria and library are locked normally, and can only be opened by the chips in the cards. Raises security by disallowing random people to get into rooms, but I know from experience that locked doors like that don't do much. My dorm is locked without an ID but if there's someone behind you, you open the door for them, whether or not they live there (my dorm is all-female so you can quickly tell for a lot of people that they don't live there). If the person is trying to infiltrate a common area, a kid will surely hold open the door for them. If the school already knows someone is in the building, they would lock the door anyway. As far as purchasing power, I assume that they can pay for meals with the chip, which would go into an account that their parents can pay off.

Also, the way the chips work is that they don't track any movements off of campus, but they do track where on the campus they are, for people who were curious on the specifics like I was. I'm curious if this is actually helping attendance at all; how many kids skip a class and hang out on campus? Is that a thing that people actually do...?

 

[FreakyLocz14]

Freaky, it isnt like that. Its a school trying to make sure it's students actually attend class. They want to know that the students are on campus, I dont see why that's a big deal at all. I wouldnt call this tyranny.

If she has a history of truancy, then she needs to be charged and convicted of it in a court of law. Only after that could something like this be even remotely acceptable. It is not constitutional to punish people beforehand for crimes that they might commit. Punishment only comes after conviction in court, and the accused is given due process of law.

Liberty issues aside, the article also explained how easy it is to cheat this system. Students can just have a friend carry their ID card with them to make it look like they're in school. Taking roll, and requiring students to sign a sign-in sheet, is a much more effective system.

 

[Khawill]

If she had a history of truancy, then she needs to be charged and convicted of it in a court of law. Only after that could something like this be even remotely acceptable. It is not constitutional to punish people beforehand for crimes that they might commit. Punishment only comes after conviction in court, and the accused is given due process of law.

I don't get how it is a punishment though, it isn't like the student is tracked outside of school, nor does it shock them if they aren't in school

 

[Mr. X]

My school had a number of students skipping class to go to a secluded room/area of the school so they could have sex.
I remember hearing rumors that one of the students who was pregnant, actually got knocked up at school.

Anyway, if the parents don't agree with what the school is doing then they have the right to remove her from school and send her to a private school. If they can't, then they either need to obtain the means to, or learn to accept and live within their means.

Taking roll, and signins, are perfect either. These are already in place, and that the schools are looking into this is proof that those methods are not effective.

 

[Oryx]

If she has a history of truancy, then she needs to be charged and convicted of it in a court of law. Only after that could something like this be even remotely acceptable. It is not constitutional to punish people beforehand for crimes that they might commit. Punishment only comes after conviction in court, and the accused is given due process of law.

Liberty issues aside, the article also explained how easy it is to cheat this system. Students can just have a friend carry their ID card with them to make it look like they're in school. Taking roll, and requiring students to sign a sign-in sheet, is a much more effective system.

It doesn't seem like the point is that they would check the ID cards instead of taking roll. It seems like the idea is that if someone skips one class and stays on campus, they can be found. Which is why I asked how widespread that problem is.

 

[Mr. X]

The reason they are looking into this is to combine it with systems already in place. This, because of how easy it is to cheat the system, is only ment to counter some of the things that the current systems can't do.

Basically, they are wanting a multilayer system. With each additional layer added, the system becomes more reliable. By themselves, each method has shortcomings. They need to combine diffrient methods to cover the weaknesses of the diffrient methods.

 

[TRIFORCE89]

If she has a history of truancy, then she needs to be charged and convicted of it in a court of law. Only after that could something like this be even remotely acceptable. It is not constitutional to punish people beforehand for crimes that they might commit. Punishment only comes after conviction in court, and the accused is given due process of law.

Liberty issues aside, the article also explained how easy it is to cheat this system. Students can just have a friend carry their ID card with them to make it look like they're in school. Taking roll, and requiring students to sign a sign-in sheet, is a much more effective system.

Why is an ID card punishment?

I had an ID in high school. But for the life of me I don't know what it was for. XD I never had to show it. And it didn't have any tracking stuff

 

[Frostweaver]

Just a matter of perception at this point... it's like the whole uniform or not argument. Stereotypically speaking, most North Americans view it as oppressive against freedom of expression and it's unnecessary. Other parts of the world will see its pros far outweigh the cons and most students who are used to it, really don't see a problem with it at the end of the day (except for the cost of buying the bloody thing...)

 

[Wobbachomp]

Reading the title, I thought this would be much, much worse than it actually is... But if it only tells the school if the kids are there or not, I don't see a problem. Then again, can't say I'd like to have to wear one of those.

 

[Zet]

Why is an ID card punishment?

I had an ID in high school. But for the life of me I don't know what it was for. XD I never had to show it. And it didn't have any tracking stuff

At the high school I went to, the ID cards were used for text books and library books.