Mr Roc;

Is there a chance that you are related to George Orwell? As it will only be a short jump from that to Big Brother "PLANTING" them in your hand or forehead. Which is what the conspiracy theorists have already been espousing for awhile, and this is giving them fuel for their argument.

This is a parenting issue and not a CHIP TECHNOLOGY issue.....

This is government thinking it can pass laws to correct the moral compass of america... AND THIS IS SERIOUSLY GEORGE ORWELL 100%

THIS IS PARENTS AND PARENTS ALONE and not the schools issue at all...

.....this is greed supersedes good parenting period.

Conspiracy theorist be damned; I can almost see it in the case of young children as a security measure, but half of HS students are 16 or older and they have the right not to "attend" school if they choose (my son would get beaten, but he does have the legal RIGHT). And they certainly have the right not to be tracked....

A cheaper alternative, that WOULDN'T even remotely infringe on a students privacy would be a sign in log as they enter the building, or a "key card" entry system at the door (like at Disney :-) that can track whether a student is present on campus without being a "trackable" device...

The software works only within the walls of the school building, cannot track the movements of students, and does not allow students to be monitored by third parties, Gonzalez said.

I'm throwing the BS flag. If it transmits signals, those signals can be intercepted and monitored.

@denverbill - you and me both! if it transmits, it can/will be tracked...

Thousands of students sign in each day, how long would that be each morning? But then whereas still lies the problem of the students hanging out in the halls and not making it to class on time.

Exactly denver bill 2 - it has to transmit a signal that can be picked up, which pretty much guarantees someone will find a way to intercept it.

Plus, you've got to love how this is an introduction to this type of tracking/monitoring. Just get everyone used to it and then hell, why not just implant it at birth so parents can always feel safe with knowing where their children are - and we promise, it won't be used for anything else.

Parenting issue? Correct but how do you fix a parent that doesn't give a crap?

The software works only within the walls of the school building, cannot track the movements of students, and does not allow students to be monitored by third parties, Gonzalez said.

This is not true. The operative phrasing should be "is not currently being used..."

This ridiculous idea is just like the paranoid parent checking their teenagers cell phone tracker every 10 minutes For goodness sakes, let kids have a little fun and allow them to goof up. That's how they learn and understand what punishment is. And for f+ck sake, punish them correctly. Don't just say you are going to tkae their electronics away for a few hours. Parents now are such whimps.

sleepinsadie

Exactly denver bill 2 - it has to transmit a signal that can be picked up, which pretty much guarantees someone will find a way to intercept it.

The way has already been found. I guarantee you the technology exists which allows me to sit in a car across the street from your house and intercept every keystroke you type on your keyboard

You mean they should be shutdown.

hahahaha...denver bill 2 - unfortunately I already know that.

But for any school official or anyone associated with this tracking to say what they said about it is just ridiculous....like they've never heard of hacking or anything. And if anyone believes them, than they are even more stupid than the ones saying it.

One small step for schools, one giant leap toward removing all your civil liberties and turning this country into a police state.

Soon the government will be putting locator chips in newborn infants and cameras in your home.

Is your TV watching you?

Agree with Roc, kids know the rules and all the school is doing is enforcing these rules. This is a magnet school and if she doesent like the rules the parents can put their child in with the other students in the normal school. This is a matter of choice not coercion. Frankly I want Big Brother in our schools and not a free for all. Perhaps a little more Big Brother in our schools would lead to better outcomes as far as our kids rank on the world stage.

and the first punk kid that gets kidnaped and they cannot track it, someone will be pissed off.

There are so many issuses at play here - and on both sides of the argument.

The school certainly has a right to establish certain rules, parameters of school policy, etc. This is a magnet school. Students are not required to attend this particular school, they apply for the privilege of being allowed to go to this school as opposed to their 'home' school. So, they know what is expected from the outset. (In this particular issue, obviously, that does not wholly apply.) But the upshot is that this student is privileged to be allowed to attend this school. You follow the school's rules or you get bumped back to your home school.

On the flip side, however, is the broader issue of invasion of privacy. technology not withstanding, does the school have no better way to track their students? Can they not give them a student ID with a magnetic strip to scan when they enter the building and/or leave the building?This method has worked in other schools/other states. Why not here? How about the good old 'old school' hall monitors to make sure students are, in fact, in class? Or maybe those aforementioned IDs can scan a student into their classes as well as the entry doors. Is the school system so dependant upon other people's technical savvy that they cannot think outside the box, themselves to figure out how to make sure their students get to class when they are supposed to?

Perhaps, the real problem is engendering respect between students and faculty. Some schools have no problems with truancy or student behavior issues. Why is that? Could it be students and teachers really know each other, by name, on sight? People 2 People is probably the best weapon against poor student attendance and school behavior. If you can get the school in line ... across the board ... there will be no need for RFIDs which, as with any other technology, can be hacked.

Bottom line? The student needs to either accept the school's dictum or go back to her home school. The school needs to find a better, less intrusive, method of tracking their student attendance.

Northside said it was losing $1.7 million a year due to students loitering in the stairwells or chatting in the hallways.

It is about money, pure and simple. However, we as a nation have stripped all the authority these educators have and thus we see, because of money or better the lack of it, they are now striving to get some authority back.

Now having said all of that, if they can't get them to class by telling them to, what makes them think this will be any better.

But this couldn't be used to track kids that are missing... because the chips don't work outside of the school.

You guys are missing the central point. This isn't about safety... this is about money:

Texas law counts a student present for purposes of distributing state aid to education funds based on the number of pupils in the classroom at the start of the day. Northside said it was losing $1.7 million a year due to students loitering in the stairwells or chatting in the hallways.

If it is only used for schools, then the school should allow it in their locker during non-school hours. I have no problem with this as it is actually helping the school get more money.

Another conspiracy therory coming true... maybe they are onto something?

Now you will SEE a steady march towards BIG BROTHER...

Conspiracy therorist? or Futruist thinkers?

What ever it is it is happening.

Something to think about, your president has brought up the implanting of RFID chips in the citizens of this country to load "medical information" (much like microchipping a dog). This would be a way of tracking patients under Obamacare. Cards are a bad idea because of the hassle of keeping up with them for a teenager.

Calvinfan,

That's how it begins - "for the good of the children". The people who want to instill a totalitarian government (and yes, there are some people who want this - mainly those who would be in power in that situation) hide their evil intent by raising concerns about safety. Rights and freedoms are never lost in one fell swoop. They are lost in small, almost unnoticeable increments.

I am a Christian and believe that there will come a time when one man controls the whole world. Scripture refers to him as the Beast (most people refer to him as the Anti-Christ). While I don't necessarily believe the "Mark of the Beast" will be chip that is implanted, the use of the tracking chip in question is certainly a prelude to the totalitarian government of the Beast.

Is this a test to see if they will follow directions?

when i was young i played to hard to keep a tag hanging

Dragon, he also floated the idea of Obama dust to help with global warming and taking 401(k) and IRA to help with debt.

Just saying

To the American Civil Liberties Union, take your client to another school. This school has a policy and no one is obligating this young lady to go to that school. if she don;t agree with school policy she should find a school to would fit her needs.

Privacy? I don't see that! First of all if she is where she is supposed to be no problems! The tracking is being done at the school on school property. It can be used to account for students in case of emergency as well. Secondly they don not have a right to not attend school till they hit 18 in most states. Any state that has a lower age is ignorant! Those states then need to lower the age to whatever their age is for everything else! No 16-17 year needs to be told that going to school or class is optional! Having said that and knowing that most will go to school and class, it should NOT be optional in any shape, form or fashion!

"Those who would give up liberty to purchase safety deserve neither liberty or safety." Benjamin Franklin.

First it was the article that wanted people to believe that they are a psychopath if they don't sign up with Facebook and surrender your privacy, now this current article where courts have ruled students have no right to freedom. This is the beginning of the end. It won't be long till we're all tagged and monitored.

What is school? A place where children learn what is right and what is wrong. Our children are being primed to accept it is A-Okay for the government to track them. Maybe it will someday become a Right-of-Passage upon graduation to have a monitoring chip implanted in your skull by the government!

ROC1960: Applaud away! Let's put monitor chips on you while you work and to make sure you get to all your appointments on time! This is a GREAT idea that YOU should be forced to follow!

Calvin: NOWHERE does this article state that the monitor chips are to be used for the child's safety. The specific quote regards MONEY and the loss of it, or the effort to recoup it. The school's error is in the failure to admit OTHER reasons for loss of money. I seem to remember HALL MONITORS rather than chips in or on our persons. No need for chips when a person handing out detention passes has proven effective in the past.

Gregor: as far as going to another school, it is the school's legal duty to educate those within its district. Forcing any child to go to another school can be detrimental financially and time-wise to that student. The school is receiving PUBLIC funds (as the article stated) thus MUST educate students within its district. It must adhere to PUBLIC funding rules or become a privately funded school if the SCHOOL decides to change who is allowed to attend and who is not.

One more step toward the mark of the beast!

This isn't about the safety of the students, it's about the school's greed of getting $ 1.5 million more per year.

What's next? Insurance companies to require RFID/GIS access to your vehicles, to make sure your observing the speed limits, and other safe driving procedures??

If it was for the safety of the kids, then yes - they may have a point.

But for the greed of the school district, then no.

Texas law counts a student present for purposes of distributing state aid to education funds based on the number of pupils in the classroom at the start of the day. Northside said it was losing $1.7 million a year due to students loitering in the stairwells or chatting in the hallways.

So you have so little discipline in your schools you don't have your kids in a classroom at the beginning of the day? There's your real problem. Making them wear chips does not solve the discipline problem, only the money problem. But, if the kids are not in the classroom, then they're not learning, so you shouldn't need the money to educate them anyway.......

P.S. The article SHOULD have stated that this is a magnate school. This school certainly wouldn't attract me for bringing my son as a "magnet" school.

There is another question raised by this article: If the school has enough funds to use chips and to hire a company or own the instruments necessary to monitor those chips, how does it need more money? Seems an excess expenditure for a school that is supposedly losing millions.

Well, lets take a second and think about this one for just a moment.

It all sounds good, in theory, to be able to track students within the school to make sure that they (students) are where they need to be (whole point of having teachers check roll to have a physical eyes on account of attendance) and to make sure that they are getting to education that they need and that everybody pays for.

But, just like all other powerful “tools” that are used in this fashion, when abuse occurs, which it eventually will, what could the possible outcomes be?

Well, these RFID chips DO NOT turn off, ever, so whoever has access or whoever may hack into the school system illegally uses this system to, see where young kids are illegally, tell if young kids are home and will have unhindered access to theft opportunities within and outside of the actual “school grounds” and can know when to isolate certain students, particularly females, in non populated areas and can commit hazing, bullying, rape etc etc.

You would be surprised to find that young kids these days are very good at finding their way around security systems for these types of technologies and could very easily have access to these “databases” in which doing so, will open up a big ole can of bad worms so to speak.

Now, just because some judge thinks that he can bypass students (public citizens here lets not forget) constitutional rights to their privacy, doesn’t make it so. We all know about crooked judges and cops, so who’s to say that this judge hasn’t been paid off to “ok” this type of “schooling”?

Having kids being acclimated to being tagged like a lost dog this early in their life is none other than a precursor to having them being tagged when their older. Which isn’t a far fetched idea.

Lets face fact here to, like any other questionable action taken up by a state, entity, or even individuals, lets see who this would actually benefit here in realistic terms.

“The school district -- the fourth-largest in Texas, with about 100,000 students -- is not attempting to track or regulate students' activities, or spy on them, district spokesman Pascual Gonzalez said. Northside is using the technology to locate students who are in the school building but not in the classroom when the morning bell rings, he said.” This is very strange wording #1.

#2 Even IF that the only reason is to “use the technology to locate students who are in the school building but not in the classroom when the morning bell rings” this seems a very big waste of time and money just to find “discrepancies” in what only I can see as “the teachers word that the student was present when tardy bell rang against the students word” Cause well, gee that’s just part of the teach’s job that they have to do, God Forbid they check roll themselves and know if THEIR own students are there on time right?, so lets make a very potentially dangerously abusive technology Mandatory. The “Potential Benefits” are very very far outweighed by the eventual abuse that this new Tech presents and at the cost of the taxpayer mind you.

I for one wouldn’t brandish my kid with such dehumanizing technology like they are common cows to be tracked that ,like all other “wave emitting” technologies, will cause medical harm to them if they wear it through their school years hanging close to their heart 8 hours a day for years. Just like they started to figure out that the “safe” asbestos that was handled for years by people are now causing extremely bad cancers, we are starting to learn through studies that Radio Wave tech is actually not to good for the body, just like your microwave at home, that’s why they tell you not to stand near it while “nuking” your food.

But that all sounds crazy right I know, but hey, they used to hang people for saying that the Earth wasn’t flat too at one point in time.

You can never research anything “too much”

Think Smarter, Not Harder

Remember, you must educate yourself now on everything you can, Because you will decide our future

Just a simple question. Does the principal, teachers and other employees use them also? Of course they don't. They don't need to be track do they? Or will not permitted it to be applicable to themselves. Put it on them then we can talk about why the children may need them.

Never before in the History of our nation has the US Government tried to control every aspect of our lives. Never before have we had cameras along our streets and drones in the air above us watching every move we make. Never before has the Government tried to dictate to us what we eat, or what we drink. Never before has our Federal Government taken land from our people illegally and not even pay them for the land. Never before has our Government allowed millions of illegal aliens to enter our nation, people we know nothing about, and allow even terrorists, foreign agents, and outlaws to enter our nation illegally across our borders and then protect them from being arrested and sent home. Never before has our government sold thousands upon thousands of guns illegally to drug cartels and then try to blame American gun owners for those guns and try to use that evil deed as an excuse to make laws infringing gun owners rights. Never before has trillions of dollars been taken from the American tax payers and used to "bail out" corrupt friends of the people in power. Never before has a President of the United States spent over 20 millions of tax payer dollars going on a vacation to Hawaii while millions of Americans have no jobs and can hardly afford to even eat. Never before in our history have Americans had to watch what they say on their own telephones or in their communications for fear they are being monotered by the Government and placed on some list that labels them domestic terrorists. Never before have Americans been so over taxed with Federal, State, County, and City taxes where hard working people pay most of everything they earn for one tax or another. Never before have thugs been allowed to stand at voting polls with clubs to intimidate voters. Never before have our elections been allowed to be stolen using corrupted technology that cant be traced instead of a voting system that has a true paper trail. Never before has the Government taken over our citizen's health care system when 90 percent of the people did not want the Government taking over health care. Never before has our Government of the people, for the people, and by the people not been of the people, for the people, and by the people, but is a government that will not even listen to the people. Never before have we lived under a government that is more like a Dictatatorship than a Constitutional Republic. Is it any wonder our people are near to a Revolutionary war?

Hey dude, hold my card, I'm going to blow of class and go out to lunch with my boyfriend...just hang on to my card so it looks like I'm here....FALSE security. Next they'll want to implant them...no thank you. Waste of limited school funds IMO...take freaking attendance, it's always worked in the past.

This has nothing to do with safety or accountability, this state/school is using force to get paid....

ISN'T THAT EXTORTION????

they clearly stated it was about the school/state getting paid...wtf is wrong with our country, why is it becoming a "transparent/virtual" prison for profit

Best solution to her problem: Get her OUT of public schools ASAP and homeschool her where she will get a better education without the distractions. And, no, you DO NOT have to tell the school district or the state what curriculum you're using. It is against Texas law for them to ask.

Seems the district has traded responsibility for technology. Technology will continue its march forward - and it is up to humans to decide where and when to use it.

They state they will not track by individual. I would suggest the district look into simply placing motion detectors in the problem areas that have the capability to report back to a central monitoring station.

Privacy is protected. And the school still gets its money.

"The software works only within the walls of the school building, cannot track the movements of students, and does not allow students to be monitored by third parties, Gonzalez said."

Someone WILL hack it!

"Texas law counts a student present for purposes of distributing state aid to education funds based on the number of pupils in the classroom at the start of the day. Northside said it was losing $1.7 million a year due to students loitering in the stairwells or chatting in the hallways."

While it would have been cheaper to adjust this policy than to invest in the technology, I'm appalled that these funding dollars are being placed over efforts to get the students physically into their classrooms on time. So the kids are loitering away from their classrooms. No matter, as long as they're marked present and we get the money.

I agree with the majority of the other posters on here. This is a slippery slope and worrisome that it could lead to similar outcomes and usage elsewhere. Just because we can doesn't mean we should - that phrase seems to fit here. I'm all for new things and moving forward but there are times when you have to know the limits and really think about what you are doing and if it is really for the best or not.

Denverbill and the others are right, the BS line about only working in the schools is just that. And those saying this is about money are right as well. Yes I would say there is some care that the kids are in class but more so I'd say the money is the main concern.

I understand this is a magnet school and being so since it is a privilege to go here (ignoring the fact that we should have better schools all around and our educations system's problems) different rules can apply but I would really think there is a better way to track these kids. Starting with the parents, followed up by secondary measures from the school. With those secondary measures being a scan card and more amazingly just walking the halls and making sure the kids are getting to class. Why not class starts teachers do a quick check and or lock the doors. Those that are late go to office to be dealt with. Repeat offenders get booted from the school for failure to follow the rules? It seems there are plenty of options that might be a little more involved but can still be effective in the long run and not have to border on civil liberties violations. We got along fine for decades without having to resort to a tracking option like this.

The biggest problem schools face is lack of parenting and then the schools ability to enforce certain rules and not have to play CYA or lawyer up for every little thing (that would then be followed by teacher issues, funding, overall revamp of how we look at education and teach kids, some interesting new ideas out there). Stop that nonsense and put the blame where it goes and let the schools discipline and kick out the bad seeds and that will be a great first step in to fixing some of the problems we see.

It is time

Eileen V-635375

Hey dude, hold my card, I'm going to blow of class and go out to lunch with my boyfriend...just hang on to my card so it looks like I'm here....FALSE security. Next they'll want to implant them...no thank you. Waste of limited school funds IMO...take freaking attendance, it's always worked in the past.

good point...this is evidence that this is about greed and money and not about kids and safety...but your right, next they will want them implanted...and thats when I take my child to mexico to have it removed....period.

two words: home school

AND ANOTHER THING: screw you Texas for dirtying up the Magnet schools name, they were amazing for me, I got a LPN and did the sports medicine program all before I was 19...they are so good...I suggest them leaving Texas asap.

This is what is going to happen: the teacher will get used to monitoring the presence of the students electronically. Then the students will start giving their tags to their friends so that they show as present while having a ball in the hallway. The teacher wont care because electronically he has a full classroom. In the end there will be a couple of cats with a bunch of tags in the classroom and things will get worse so chips will be implanted. It's a vicious circle.

clearly many of you do not know how RFID chips work, they are not self powering, they are powered by a radio frequency so they literally can not be turned off, all someone would have to do in order to track one of these chips would be go near the school with a radio frequency scanner and find the frequency that the chips are set at and then right a simple program.

worse yet the computer security in schools is laughable at best, in high school i watched a single kid take an hour and in that hour he got through the firewall, gave him self an administrator account, and then have access to every file on our school districts network. imagine if our school had this technology, we could have easily gotten the information to track every one of these chips that were in range and we would have easily been able to make it Mobile and track them any where.

it would be short range tracking granted, maybe within 30-40 feet if not closer, but in the hands of someone wanting to do wrong it could be used for terrible purposes.

Jibaro...so much like senior ditch day we can expect a....

all the kids lay their tags on the chairs and then the entire school of kids gets up and walks out

suddenly the school officials panic...they have no idea what the kids could be doing, what if they went home...omg omg omg call the president CALL THE PRESIDENT we have a security breach....

sorry i just cant help myself...I feel like im in that movie from the 80's called Cyborg...or maybe barbed wire...hmmm eye scans anyone

roc1960..the real question you should be asking is what is next ? Should we then allow the government or big business to monitor its workers the same way ? Just how far are you willing to go with this tech issue and how it can relate to us all in years to come if we continue to allow government and judges to control us rather than we the people controling the ones we elect?

I would still refuse to wear it, take my kid out of that school, let them throw the kid out for not wearing it is all they can do. This is just another step in the endocrination of our children brought on by the communism going on in this country. This is against the constitutional right to privacy. What next, they want to wipe your butt when you go to the bathroom.

Yeah it stinks that the school is doing this to get the almighty buck. However the kids today are not like we were. We had a hall monitor "big Mike" if you were outside the classroom when the bell rang and big mike said get you keester to class, we did it, no questions asked. Today you will get a string of cuss words, flipped off and quite possibly attacked by the brat that knows if you so much as look at them cross eyed you will loose your job, and go to jail. When i was in school I was not afraid of the teacher, hall monitor, principle etc... I was afraid if i got into trouble they would call mom or dad. if they had to come to school because i was being a brat I KNEW if they could not find a room somewhere to "lay down the law" i was going to have to pay the piper when I got home.

Parents now do not care! they see the schools as babysitters, if the parents would instill in the kid you will go to school, you will get to class on time the school wouldnt have to complain about loosing money due to thise loitering outside cassrooms etc.. If you notice you don't hear from any of the parents that don't have trouble getting their kid to attend regulary and on time. It sounds like another kid that has been raised to be a princess, that can do no wrong.

I'm not a fan of "Big Brother" and large government. I despise it.

But, as long as you have the choice to remove your child from Public School and therefore from being tracked...I see no issues.

Texas law counts a student present for purposes of distributing state aid to education funds based on the number of pupils in the classroom at the start of the day. Northside said it was losing $1.7 million a year due to students loitering in the stairwells or chatting in the hallways.

In the final analysis it's always all about the money. Abuse of this technology will soon follow and one can be certain it will intrude into other aspects of society.

I would never submit to such an abomination, but I’m from a previous generation. It seems each new generation is more accepting of governmental control and loss of individual rights than the previous generation. THX1138.

I seem to remember HALL MONITORS rather than chips in or on our persons.

That was back when kids were taught to respect authority rather than today's "you don't have to listen to anyone" attitude.

We're treated like cattle; a SAD day in history on what Man has Become !!.......

Apparently some people forget that schools operate on money and depend on it to give students an education. Also, few people in this thread realize that the RFID system is not meant to control the students or spy on them, but simply to locate them if they are not present in their homeroom at the beginning of the day. Northside gets state aid that is dependent on the amount of students that show up every school day, so they have the right to ensure that student's being labeled 'absent' are truly not present on school grounds. It's not realistic for a school to have teachers running around trying to find their students or to have eyes on every inch of school property. On the other hand, like someone had mentioned before, this system is not the only option however, but it seems to me the one that requires the least amount of manpower. Also, there is always the possibility of someone hacking the system or abusing it, so I can't say for sure if it's the best solution.

@Eileen-V-635375: Teacher notices that student who has blown off class is not present, so he/she or the person operating the RFID system locates said card and finds it's within their classroom. Now the teacher knows another is holding said student's card and is therefore not present. Student who skipped class is punished if found on school grounds without wearing his/her RFID card. POINT: the RFID system is meant to be used in CONJUNCTION with regular attendance, not completely replace it, and therefore is not a 'security' measure (read the article). Plus, the initial capital cost of said system would easily be paid for over a few years given they are losing $1.7 million a year and would be profiting afterward.

I am in complete agreement about the invasion of privacy but the reality is that every single student is already subjected to the ability to monitor through their non stop cell phone use.

It's hard to get respect from your kids when they know that they can complain about you and get you into trouble even if they lie. Put a hand on your kid and you might end up in jail. Worse, Social Services could take your kids away.

My oldest daughter came home one day and told me that she was told in school that if I so much as put a finger on her they would take me to court. I told her that it was Ok. Once they took me to court then they would find a new home for her because I would not want her in my house. I won the argument but most parents will not face their kids.

Plus anyone that swipes a badge etc. at their work is being monitored while they are there plus many company vehicles etc have tracking devises.

just MICROWAVE the dam card and render the RFID chips as usless dead weight,it will destroy it in a instand ,just a few seconds is all that will kill them

Mark,

Do that to the card in your satellite tv box etc, your viewing is being monitored. Do you need a badge or key pad entry for work? Drive a work vehicle? Again your already being monitored. Take a cruise etc and do that to the card they give you and see how far you get.

roc1960

Well they are not implanted in the students so I would say the conspiracy theorists are a little off here. When one goes into a lot of government buildings etc as a visitor are you not given a badge to wear? Is this not also a type of monitoring for security?

An instance like this sets a precedent for the possibility of chip implants in the future.

Allowing this is not only a violation of the Constitution, freedom, and liberty, it is throwing away everything this country is supposed to stand for.

The door was cracked for the totalitarian authoritarian military empire to take this country over quite some time ago, something like this opens the door a little more.

I don't know about some of you, but I believe in things like freedom and liberty, most Americans have forgotten what those things are as we lose a little every day, and this is another blow to those principles and beliefs.

NEI (NOT ENOUGH INFORMATION) in the article. Is the "chip" specific to each Student, individually? If so, What other information is on the chip? Do they "physically" pick the chip up in the morning upon arriving to school, so as for the School to be sure that "the chip" properly matches up to "the Student"? So Somebody other than the actual "Student" can't carry "the chip" into the School and be counted as "present" at the beginning of the day, when really they're not? Does the Student then return "the chip" to the Office so it remains at the School overnight and over the weekends? Or do They keep "the chip" and it is simply re-activated each morning when they arrive? Is "the chip" used solely for "attendance" recording? Or is the information demographically shared with any "OUTSIDE OF THE SCHOOL" COMPANIES?

Can Anyone REALLY TRUST? that the DATA on this "electronic chip" is not being wrongly and wrongfully "EXPLOITIVELY" used? If it is "only" for attendance recording, it need only have "Student ID" number and a registering that it was "physically picked up" for attendance for that day and then returned to the Office before leaving, right? BUT, even that can be used to "electronically" attached all kinds of information to and send AND NOBODY WILL EVER KNOW. It's OZ, BEHIND THE CURTAIN (That is also the problem with making all medical records "electronic" and this should in no way be allowed to establish any kind of "precedent" FOR THAT).

The whole thing is "UNWARRANTED". AND, this also adds to one of the greatest "DEBILITATING TECHNOLOGICAL DETRIMENTS" of today. STUDENTS don't have to have any "PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS" because "ELECTRONICALLY" everything is being done for them! (albeit, really "exploitively" for Someone else) Now They don't even have to be where they're suppose to be on time and can still be counted. And, on the other side, why isn't there a "REALITY OPTION" for counting "good cause" lateness in attendance, anymore? (or is that just a smoke-screen FARCE?)

And lastly, WE ARE TALKING TEXAS, HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!! What COLOR IS THEIR FLAG?

Whats funny about a post above by RED -

"One small step for schools, one giant leap toward removing all your civil liberties and turning this country into a police state.

Soon the government will be putting locator chips in newborn infants and cameras in your home.

Is your TV watching you?"

Is that BOTH of these things have actually been happening,

#1 Back in 98'-99' i had a very good friend of my Mother who is no longer with us that was a nurse for a Big Hospital here in TX, wont specify which one because i cant recall specifically which one it is but i remember her talking about the nurses having to plant "Locator Chips" into the hands on newborns, now, i dont recall if it was a voluntary procedure or not but the fact that it was happening and still is is the point.

#2 Verizon or Comcast or one of those cable/satellite TV providers just released a new form of tech that actually watches your eye movment, and monitors your speech to "determine proper commercial advertisements to display to users using specifics in their conversations and what triggers their eye contact." So yea your TV IS watching you, if you permit it, for now.

Just found it to be Verizon as i type, heres a link

http://theunhivedmind.com/wordpress2/?p=12086

It would be nice if every school in the United States had this electronic GPS. It would give a parent some kind of eases knowing that their children are safe in school. For the school if a child is missing on the sensor they would call the family to find out why their kids didn't come to school. Probably the parent would say but I left him or her this morning in front of the school well guess what your kid never made it inside. So this is great for all. And for all you liberal out there stop protesting that all you good for it either your way or no way that the liberal mentality.

I am getting very frustrated with the intrusive stepping stones being implimented upon our society. The apparent enemies of civil liberty and freedom are the people voicing their aproval of such atrocities. Wake up from your stuper before it is too late. I beg of you please wake up people.

Magnet school can do whatever they damn well please.

If this extends to public schools, I'm against it. This big brother crap has to stop.

"Texas law counts a student present for purposes of distributing state aid to education funds based on the number of pupils in the classroom at the start of the day. Northside said it was losing $1.7 million a year due to students loitering in the stairwells or chatting in the hallways."

And the state of Texas is aware of whether or not a student is chatting in the hallways how? Do schools actually report to the state when a student is 5 minutes late? Besides, it supposedly doesn't track where the student is, so you don't need an electronic devise to tell you if the student is in the classroom or not.

It shouldn't matter whether this is a magnet school or not. If an American citizen does not want to wear an electronic tracking devise, it should be the citizen's choice, not an agency's.

roc1960 the federal government now has a stadardized national rfid type i.d. for all federal employees.

Did it save anyone yet? No. Will it? I don't know. Is such an i.d. a good idea? No, because no way exists to make sure it is not monitored by a third party.

When inoculated before starting school, chip is implanted. Worldwide tracking system picks up signal in monitoring stations, some in schools. Then information routed to mainframe data base to be retrieved when needed. Not science fiction because grid already exist's for this to occur. The admission of such a system would have people asking numerous questions like why this and that if they had the information. The simple answer is it cannot predict events. The other aspects like finding missing persons would depend if they had the device. However, if the authorities admit they have been implementing this technology for years, what would the outcry be? Look to England and their monitoring of the populace and the extent.

What's your definition of safe? You mean "safe" in school as s/he still gets bullied by other students or possibly sexually exploited by a faculty member?

unless the school is going to require the students to wear it out in the open, just carry the card in one of those metal billfolds, or as someone posted - a few seconds in the microwave on place a magnet on it.

This is only the beginning. These kids will be conditioned to wearing a tag and it will become second nature. Following generations will not even blink at the thought of these tags and as the older people like me die off the younger people who are conditioned to such intrusive devices will be more receptive to other forms of monitoring.

fgh - where's link to this claim?

roc1960 the federal government now has a stadardized national rfid type i.d. for all federal employees.

gregorio057 I am glad that most posters do not agree with you.

AL-1735815, no link. Just link up with any federal government employee and ask them to show you it.

I have a suggestion. Why don't we experiment this idea by using them on judges and members of both houses? Would be nice to know where the pols are when they don't show up to vote on important issues.

I listened to aninteview on the radio with the student's attorney. Students are NOT allowed to leave the badge at school. The schools are being PAID to use the equipment by the manufacturer, and the equipment is being donated. (Hmmm).

STUDENTS: Google: "Degaussers" - (Large electromagnets - really quite reasonably priced) When it becomes more expensive to replace the trackers than to continue this Orwellian intrusion, the school and the tracking company will fold!

It's simple to overcome this little problem, parents. Stand up and take responsibility for your kids- homeschool or private school. So far, at least, we are still permitted to do THIS in this country.

But it will never be stopped, as long as we tolerate TSA warrantless searches, Dept of Homeland Security (a fascistic title if ever I heard one) to monitor the internet for "keywords" without warrant, monitor our bank accounts, and limit how many automatic transfers from savings to checking we are allowed per month, police departments issuing tickets through traffic cams, trackable chips in cell phones, cars, laptops and tablets. Because we, the sheeple have replaced We, the People as the primary inhabitants of America. And the most scary part of this? The number of people who consider being concerned about this a sure sign of paranoia at the least, and full-blown mental illness at most. Currently, these people are in the minority, but the number of them is growing.

The herd increases......

The id card that federal employees use to log on their computers is not an RFID chip, it's a security token embeded in the card.

denver bill 2, #1.5- EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!! Thank you! It doesn't get any more "nailed" on the head than that!!!!!

GetMeOutAlive42, #1.68- The #2 in your post is very interesting, I think, because it "CLEARLY" demonstrates invasion onto a Person's Mind to NOT be possible without "literally-physically" invading "The Person". 4th Amendment. "Right of the People to be secure in their Person" SHALL NOT BE VIOLATED. (Companies that are licensed and regulated by The Government SHALL NOT BE EMPOWERED TO VIOLATE???????????) The 14th Amendment expressly states that Congress has the POWER, "ONLY" , to "enforce", by Legislation, that Individual Rights are upheld. They have NO POWER to legislate anything that "allows or empowers" a Company to violate an Individual's RIGHT/S, including here, 4th Amendment RIGHT/S, as in this case.

Lots of GREAT! comments, above, including the one about "weeding out" The Elders, so Technological VIOLATION inconsequentially becomes "the norm" of future Generations. But I'm really rushing today and can only sporadically check in with a few different subjects!!! Gave out votes when I could think of it, though!

If it can happen at school, what about your employer? Shouldn't he know exactly where you are during working hours? Hell, what if he needs to find you after working hours? Can't you hear them? If you're going to work for this company, then we have a right to monitor your location at all times! Don't like it, find employment elsewhere!

Khan,

They already do that with many company vehicles. Especially transportation companies, but many oil companies use GPS in the name of safety as well.

Hell they can track our phones if they really want to.

The kids should protest by trading cards with one another or sticking them in the principal's office or collecting them in a bag as they walk in each morning or a hundred other possibilities.

There are also a hundred other ways to do what the school claims it is doing, and I think that clearly means they are not doing it for the reasons they say they are. Let's face it, a lot of principals become principals because they enjoy being petty tyrants (similar to judges, I might add), and this is a good example of a principal being a petty tyrant.

What an invasion of privacy. I would never have had that back when I was in high school. Never. And I was a good kid.

So what happens when the bell rings and this high tech system shows that there are still students chatting in the hallway? The hall monitor tells them to go to class? Isn't that what the hall monitor is doing anyways? Does the school honestly think that this will be an effective means of tracking down these kids in a multi-story building as the article states it is? It's obviously not to catch kids cutting class because the article states it doesn't work outside of the school walls. What is the real reason for this? They think this high tech system will save them money? The only way it would save them money is if they make the kids pay for their badges, otherwise the system will just be more expensive because we all know that kids lose and break small objects constantly. I'd be interested to know if there is some connection between the company manufacturing this system and that district's board members, because all the invasion of privacy concerns aside, I can't think of one damn way this helps solve the problem they are implementing it for.

This is a test of the government monitoring initiative to see if it will be accepted. Tracking devices are an old science and have been on animals for decades. New technology has made them the size of a micro dot.

One GPS chip comes in at 2.5 mm x 2.0 mm – yeah, that is right, millimeters. That is 0.09843 inches x 0.07874 inches.

This type of technology would also make these GPS tracking chips for children too. In fact, it would probably enable a future society to be able to know the exact location of every person in the world at the exact same time!

All old news back in 2009. Rakon is company. Intelligence community is much more advanced. Just ask Bond, James Bond. Who is kidding who. I would have to agree there is no practical use for this; attendance?

Debi-

And the state of Texas is aware of whether or not a student is chatting in the hallways how? Do schools actually report to the state when a student is 5 minutes late?

I can only comment on what I know about my particular school district, they don't report to the state until after 1000, if a student doesn't show up before that, they don't get the money for them that day.

Kids,

You have a couple of options here. Wrap the cards in tin foil (reverse Fariday Cage). Place them in the microwave for a couple of seconds, but the school might charge you with damage. Place decrotive magnets on both sides of the cards (deguasing magnet works better) or just leave the cards in your wall lockers.

I do like the idea of trading cards with friends.

Or buy one of those metal wallets to keep your card safe.

Or everyone leave their cards at home on the same day.

I can tell you with absolute honesty I never worked as hard as when I was responsible for the attendance of a 800 kids junior/senior high school ail by myself. First of all a lot of the kids are like inmates of a prison. They spend all day watching the guards, timing the guards, looking for weak spots in security, playing the guards for weakness, lying, breaking rules on student movement, covering for each other, playing lookout, smuggling contraband, etc etc etc. You get almost no help from the teachers in many cases. Some teachers just like some parents don't know the difference between responsible adult and friend. The administration covers anything they can up. On top of that parents, step parents, Mom's boyfriend/girlfriend, Dad's girlfriend/boyfriend, grandma, grandpa all aiding/abetting and outright undermining no ditching class /school. On top of that they all move around every 50 minutes or so. That movement gives them all a chance to make a run for it. The other high school near me has over 3600 kids in one super sized school.

Sounds like the old days to me.

The chip is in a badge, not implanted in the student.

yet, millions of people use cell phones constantly. They also cause deaths on the hyways, but no one cares about that. But let the school want to monitor the kids for safty sake, and every body bitches about it.

The school doesn't care about health, whether the kids are learning or anything else....look at the article. The reason they did it is because they want the extra 1.7 million a year. Forget privacy, forget health...this is nothing more than a school getting greedy. Every kid's parents at that school should put their kids somewhere else just to send a message that this kind of behaviour isn't OK. The court system never holds up the end of the people's rights....for them it was a way to open the door to doing this kinda stuff themselves.

cow - safety sake? really did you read the article it is about funding. How does tracking the kids help keep them safe? is an alarm going to go off if they leave school, or if they are bleeding because a bully kicked their ass?

Plus how does this help them from loitering in the halls and being late for classes?

"Those who would give up liberty to purchase safety deserve neither liberty or safety." Benjamin Franklin.

I actually think the whole thing is totally useless. It's a badge. You can take it off.

If this is indeed a magnet school, why are they having such issues with students loitering in the hallways & stairwells, instead of being in their classrooms?? I'd examine the core issue first, before I'd resort to investing in such an intrusive and expensive technology that is bound to have all sorts of unintended consequences.

Cowardly New World - while I don't necessarily agree with electronically monitoring the students, for you to say the schools are "getting greedy" just shows the lack of understanding of what are schools are going through these days. Our schools are seriously under funded and need every last dollar to function. If they are loosing that much money because students are being counted as absent, when they really aren't, that is a serious loss. However, I would think the better thing to do would be to have parent volunteers, or office staff, principal, etc, patrol the halls and get any lingering students into class, then take roll after a few minutes or at the end of class. Also, they could make penalties for tardiness more harsh, like a detention after 2 tardies. If they are not imposing any punishment they are facilitating the problem.

If they gave one of those to my kids, it would go in the microwave. Probably won't track them so well after that...

Article said software could not monitor students movement, but could tell if they were in a classroom or not..........Duh

This is some scary $hit... I hope this judge has kids that go to this school.

Katy, Just what I was thinking. Easy enough to take off, fall off or swap with your friends just for fun. I can see where this supposed "solution" has failure written all over it.

My question is, who is going to monitor the monitors? It will only be a matter of time for someone uses this system to find children alone, who knows, maybe walking home from school and isolated (because this thing doesn't just work on the school grounds), and then kidnap, rape and/or kill them.

The problem is more a lack of discipline by the administration. If children are loitering in the halways after the bell then there should be some punishment, after which the rest will get the message and comply.

Does all that punishment work at the school near you?

It seems to work at ours roc, if the kids forget their badges after three times they get a detention. But then again the badges our kids wear don't track their movements, it's not a GPS. It just has their information on it (kind of like, when they swipe your drivers license through the machine to make sure it's legitimate) it holds their class schedules and how much money is in their lunch account.

Are they implanting chips in the students themselves?

Privacy? Freedom to "move about"? Are they not suppose to be in class? What do you want drop requirements for students to attend class so the are free to "move about" at will privately? Is it a school or teenage social club?

so hall monitors would work they don't need a chip they need someone to monitor the halls.

Ok, Hall Monitors in the hallways all day. What would their job be? To monitor the activities and whereabouts of the students all day? Whats the difference then besides cost? Having someone in a office monitoring their whereabouts or someone in the hallway doing the exact same thing? Someone made the reference students are not prisoners, well having a hall monitor in the hall does what?

Depending on the Campus. There is one locally that is fully open and the children are able to come and go as they please. Problem with monitors is that you either have to hire a person to monitor that hallway, or put in security cameras that infringe on the privacy of the students or have a device that allows you to monitor where each student is at all times. Me personally I welcome this security measure.

Look at the bigger picture. It's not about where it begins or why. The real question is where does it end? Where do we draw the line and say enough? That is the ACLU's issue. "We don't want to see this kind of intrusive surveillance infrastructure gain inroads into our culture," ACLU senior policy analyst Jay Stanley said.

First our pets, now our children. What comes next?

BTW I believe the quote is "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither."

Bdubs - You have hit the nail on the head and it is what these folks don't get. Where it ends is the federal government mandating the implantation of chips into every US citizen. Ten years away at best. And it will be to "protect" us and keep us "safe". By taking these "little" steps we become desensitized to the notion of being tracked by the government. When they at last say, "report to the implantation site on Tuesday", it will be too late. Even then most of the lemmings will gladly report and have their chip implanted so they can maintain the illusion of safety.

As to hall monitors: They would only be required for the one classtime - that is when the roll is taken and the federal money is dedicated.

Back in my day, "homeroom" teachers would lock the door when the bell sounded and take roll. If you were not int he classroom, you could only be counted as present by going through the office (and you accumulated a "tardy").

DOES IT MATTER THAT THE EQUIPMENT IS DONATED AND THE MANUFACTURER IS PAYING THE SCHOOL TO USE THIS TECHNOLOGY? WANT TO BET THEY AREN'T RECEIVING A GOVERNMENT GRANT?

Orwell had it right, he was just off a bit on the date!

When I was in High School, we had hall monitors. They weren't that bad and a lot of students liked them except for one lady. Other than her they were good at their jobs. They sat in chairs or desks in the halls, walked around, had walkie talkies, checked the bathrooms, ect. They made sure we were in class. They were ex military, security guards, even some teachers that didnt teach at certain hours. I think they are better than chips in a badge, and cameras. I used to also go to a school with cameras. It was much easier to skip school. But it's up to the schools i guess.

Wonder why the first comment I made was collapsed? Just because some disagree? Isnt that monitoring?

A school that monitors its students should be applauded.

Why was that collapsed?

i may be old , but they used to do it to the african americans when they took them off the slave ships i believe they called it branding them back then, god knows if the school had teachers who were looking out the door for the missing students and or even a custodian in the building we were always caught when i was a child if i was late ... i guess the students are now invisible enough to need a locator's, and by the way didn't some german guy do this to a couple of jewish people in the 2nd world war nothing to learn from that. bad idea

Put emotions aside and consider the legal questions the court faced. Some of the facts presented were that there was no tracking going on. The RFID chips are part of the student IDs that students are required to display when on school grounds. These IDs are widely accepted as a security measure to keep unauthorized persons off the campus.

The RFID's are "read" as students enter or leave the school buildings. The only information the school is able to retrieve is whether the student is at school or not. This does not constitute a privacy issue, as the student's exact location is not known.

If the school were able to pull up a student file on a computer than read the exact location of the student, a privacy issue would become relevant. Society expects schools to be accountable for their students and their safety. This technology helps the school account for who is in the school and who is not, at any given time.

Perhaps a better policy would be to hold students accountable for being in class on time. If the student is not in the class within a few minutes of the bell, mark them absent. So many absences and they are no longer eligible for enrollment in the magnet school. These schools tend to have high interest but can only serve so many students. If a student can't get to class on time, send them back to 'regular' school and let another student have access to the magnet school.

If classwork is meaningful and teachers like teaching, most students will happily attend. A chip is not going to make the few that do not want to learn learn anything.

First I find U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia guilty of breaking his oath to support and defend the constitution and therefore guilty of treason.

The Constitution gives government six responsibilities and only six. Those being, form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide a common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessing of freedom. If the law does not do at east one of these six things is is simply unconstitutional, regarless of court rulings including supreme court rulings. In this case the law or rule of the district is simply for the district to gain state dollars. It does not fall under any of the categories and is thus unconstitutional. The creation of laws that are unconstitutional are done so as acts of war upon the people of the united states and is, as by definition by the constitution, treason. The enforcement of such laws are crimes against the people of the united states, lesser than teason, but in the same class. This is because the those that enforce have not taken the oath required by the constitution of those holding elected office. Although, the entertaining of such cases in court by an elected judge who has taken the oath is once again treason.

The courts have excluded the first paragraph of the constitution now know as the preable to not be part of the constitution and therefore not binding by the government. This is done as an act of war, the courts instead of reading the constitution and following its requirement and fettering out any conflicts, have chosen to disect and interpret the constitution. Therfore, all US courts have committed and are guilty of Treason. This includes each and every member who has sat on the Supreme Court and rendered a decision, of voted on a case without take care to insure the powers and limitations in the opening paragraph were taken into full account.

Finally....and issue the conservatives and progressives can agree on...

If both sides agree, why is it even an issue? Because of some misguided revenue scheme?

Hmm this reminds me of something about my mom said about marking us with a number and not to be taking a number as it the mark of the the beast read the bible. its about the same government take over on every thing. Schools should not have the right to make your kids wear microchips. Get more cameras or hall persons to watch the halls. That girls has the right not to wear it. I raised my kids and my granddaughter and kids will be kids if they want to do good in school they will if they don't then they wont. my granddaughter is 17 and in collage and she stared collage at 16 yrs old. My grandson in the 11 grd past his test to graduate with scores at 300 and 400 in something. its hard enough for kids to go to school and let alone make them think your tracking them. You'll just make the kids who don't want to go not even want to go more. You know there hanging out in the halls at least there safe and you know where there at at least. Just have some one go get them off to class.

Can't the armed guard(s) they put in schools do this ? Near the area where I live, there were a couple of incidents where students were raped in the stairwells. This was another school district than mine, but it was a very well-to-do area.

A school that wants to monitor its students for the federal money it will receive but won't put cameras in its classrooms to monitor teacher efficiency and student bullies should be shut down.

In the wake of lower student scores, colleges having to give remedial classes in reading, math and English, stories of bullying by students AND teachers, people have asked for cameras in classrooms. They have been told that it was too costly... which is complete bull.

Monitors in hallways have been a staple of schools since Victorian times but suddenly chips are required? Yep, someone connected to the school board, state level, and to the judge who made the ruling, owns the company who makes the chips.

Follow the money.

Oh, we did have an incident in our district where something happened between 2 special needs students. It occurred in the auditorium. No one else was in there. I guess the teachers lost track of them.

The school district -- the fourth-largest in Texas, with about 100,000 students -- is not attempting to track or regulate students' activities, or spy on them, district spokesman Pascual Gonzalez said. Northside is using the technology to locate students who are in the school building but not in the classroom when the morning bell rings, he said.

Texas law counts a student present for purposes of distributing state aid to education funds based on the number of pupils in the classroom at the start of the day. Northside said it was losing $1.7 million a year due to students loitering in the stairwells or chatting in the hallways.

So we are to believe that this is all because the school district can't accurately count the number of students who are there each day?! Because the school can't count, the students are expected to be treated like cattle?! BTW, this is not a conservative issue OR a liberal issue.... This seems to have both sides pretty pissed. It's not often when the ACLU and the conservative groups agree on anything.....

So answer this? If the school is losing money because students weren't being counted properly, what happens when a student forgets their bracelet? (scores would likely forget them each day) I am not buying their reasoning for a minute. They want to track students so that when problems arise, they will know who was in the vicinity of the fight when it erupted or who was near the soda machine when it was robbed.

1. On one hand I for this because it can problems. Of course what if the child removes the badge then you've lost your monitor. On the other hand it's getting people used to being monitored. Where will it lead too. I'm sure I don't want my daily activities being watched by government flunkies and I don't do anything I shouldn't. Any computer records can be altered by experienced tec people. It's nobodies business what I eat, when I sleep, what I read, what religion I belong to or not. The whole thing stinks of big brother and 1984. For our illiterate college students, 1984 is a book written by George Orwell it would do you good to read it.

666

I'm no psychic, but I see Martial law in the United States future

Ladycat, if you want to call others illiterate you really should check your grammar. It leaves a lot to be desired. I really think that you could have stated your opinion without being insulting to others. So many on here try to act like they are smarter than everyone else, especially the people that they don't agree with. I know that my grammar is not perfect and I don't normally say anything about others, but I get real sick of people who act like they are better than others insult people when they are actually no better than the people that they insult.

as someone who does geospatial "things" i myself am worried about what the ACLU is worried about. Granted right now RFID is limited to an extent but radiation frequency is like a fingerprint. Soon it will be drivers licenses and license plates with RFID. Speaking of which i just got a new plate for my car that has some rather strange things about it. I have not yet scanned my license plate for low level radiation only because i keep forgetting.

If the student is in the hall NOT IN THE CLASSROOM LEARNING, THEN WTF ARE THEY GETTING FEDERAL $ FOR? Get off your a$$es, stop being their friends, and be their teachers. If they are late then lock the doors and send them to the office. I thought you were SUPPOSED to be teaching children RESPONSIBILITY among other things.

I remember right this tech costs the school 120k or so each and every year just for the upkeep not to mention the initial costs. It is enough to hire at least two more teachers, hall monitors, armed guards a year with at least. Talk about stupid...

An RFID chip attached to an ID card is hardly the mark of the beast. If those of you stating so would actually read your bibles, you would know this.

Lady Cat, I think I'll print your comments and take them with me to my next college class. You have a lot of gander to call others illiterate.

So then what? Spend more money on personal to walk the halls to make sure the little Darlings have the responsibility to get their butts to class?

Here comes Big Brother.....Pandora's box is opening. Once they get you used to it, they're going to stick it into everyone. Govt will know where you are. Next will be prisoners, sex offenders, etc. Eventually, all children at birth. Married partners will track cheating partners. Cops will use the information in court. You will be monitored 24/7 for everything you do.

People supporting this can't see beyond today. Govt is going to control you all like a dogs....

A lot of Sex offenders and convicts are at home with monitors due to prison overcrowding.

Next will be prisoners, sex offenders, etc

A: Good, with the recidivation rate of sex offenders I have no problem with that.

B: home bracelets are routinely used now.

roc you do realize there is an expensive to make this chips and then for the equipment and personell to monitor them yeah I think a hall monitor would be a lot cheaper not only that but someone should be monitoring the halls anyway making sure there are no fights and no drugs being passed around the chips can't do that not yet anyway.

roc the kids are not prisoners and should not be treated as such.

Why not video monitors in all classes and hallways? But the cost and cost paying someone to sit and watch the monitors?

Problem here is that hiring one hall monitor for each hall in the school. I am being realistic. Some schools are multiple levels, have blind corners and areas that cannot be easily watched. You want to hire a person for each floor of each building. That could get expensive fast. A chip in their ID is a much simpler way to monitor their whereabouts. I would also point out that if you had to hire all those extra people they would have to be given the benefits of the school staff. They would be working a full 40 hours or do you want to hire twice as many part timers.

There may be a startup cost but there will be a lower maintenance cost. There are most likely teachers in the hallways monitoring students but this is to make sure the students get in class and aren't roaming the halls. More students being counted there means more money for the school meaning the original investment will pay for itself.

Plus Summers off?

The author of this article failed to report the whole story. If you would go to the link below, you will get the full report behind the ruling. The student WAS given the option to have the RFID chip removed in order to continue attending the magnet school but she REFUSED. No option left for the judge but to rule in favor of NISD.

Roc, question, please. Based on your comments, do you sell these devices? This school should be ashamed of their lack of leadership and management skills. Can't get kids to class on time? I'll send Sister Euphrasia down to help. Not only will the little brats be in class before the bell rings, bet they even get their homework done on time. And I thought 1984 was fiction.

they should put the RDIF chips in sex offenders dicks to make sure they don't go where they are suppose to go !

Problem with that is Sister Euphrasia would be thrown in jail if she said anything construed as derogatory or touched one of those little darlings and the school sued. More so for the student is a minor.

So then what? Spend more money on personal to walk the halls to make sure the little Darlings have the responsibility to get their butts to class?

Why would you need that? We all got to class just fine when I was in school without the need for security guards or "Big Brother" ID chips. A lot of you out there are willing to give up your rights far too easily for a false sense of security.

Paws93 in the long run how can chip information be verified? If a cop wants to lie about someone in court, does he have access to changing the chip information?

Nobody skipped class etc while you were in school? Never?

Roc, I made an appointment for you on Friday at Lake Animal Hospital to be microchipped. Send me your vitals so that we can be ready for ya. Geez. Give it up, man.

Where does this say it is for security? It is to make sure the kids actually go to class and the problem is with today's kids, not with the kids of the past. Things change and some of today's youth doesn't respect anything and that may be attributed to parenting but they just don't get how an education is important.

fgh - Ah ha....Now you are thinking. The govt can and will lie on anyone with phony reports if they want to get you. Hacking and other technology issues exists. What about chip switching? Lots of issues.

But, it's coming and they're going to use it on us. Govt will ultimately be able to do anything they want to you with their report. But who controls the information? While it can be used for good, look at all the corruption in govt...whose to say it will stay that way?

The people supporting this "for the children" (which is ALWAYS how it begins) are not thinking to the potential future dangers when they expand it and then ultimately on to everyone.

It is amazing. Not too long ago there was an article about implanting chips in children so if they were kidnapped or lost their parents would be able to find them and most people were all into it as a great thing. Why not? Aren't our children more important than our pets who already have chips implanted in them? Now there is a school that wants them to WEAR a school identification badge with a chip in it so that they can track them IN THE SCHOOL and everyone is all upset because it is the beginning of the end of our privacy. An item that can be removed at any time as opposed to a chip that is implanted in a child. How are those chips any different than the chips that parents would implant in their children? Are the chips that we can implant in children any less able to be hacked and tracked by the government or anyone else? I myself don't agree with implanting chips in children or pets for that matter. What I don't understand is why there is such an uproar about having children wear chips in school while people see nothing wrong with parents implanting their children with chips.

Wouldnt a school be more secure if they knew at all times were all students are?

Welcome to Satan's Workshop folks because you're no longer free.....you're just a numbers.

YOU PEOPLE NEED TO GET AWAY FROM TEXAS BECAUSE YOU'RE IN HELL..!!!!!

You are already "just a number" SS, drivers licence, credit/bank cards etc etc. Nothing uses your name its a number!

1.7 million dollars, a lot of money lost so some can socialize instead of having the responsibility to get their butts to class.

so when the hall monitor finds them socializing instead they get sent to the principals office and they get detention then the kids stop doing it so that they don't have to sit in detention pretty simple.

Im sure that was policy to begin with ie detention etc. but that hasn't worked or the school wouldnt have this problem.

@tlb1974... The only thing simple about it is your thought process. "Hall monitor?" "Detention" makes kids attend school?? You are so out of touch it's horrifying!

roc1960, do you think the system will save them money? How? Just by having the knowledge that a kid isn't in a classroom? They still need the hall monitors to go tell them to get in class after they are spotted outside of class when the bell rings. Isn't that what the hall monitor is doing without the system anyways? Does the school honestly think that this will be an effective means of tracking down these kids in a multi-story building as the article states it is? It's obviously not to catch kids cutting class because the article states it doesn't work outside of the school walls. What is the real reason for this? Even if the kids pay for the patches it would still just be breaking even instead of saving money, you still need the staff to deal with the kids breaking the rules. On top of that the system will just be more expensive because we all know that kids lose and break small objects constantly. I'd be interested to know if there is some connection between the company manufacturing this system and that district's board members, because all the invasion of privacy concerns aside, I can't think of one damn way this helps solve the problem they are implementing it for.

Costly Hall Monitors would be a thing of the past, chip in ID costs less then a quarter. You could use One Person and they would be directed where to go. Cost effective!

So pay for someone just to walk the halls to make sure the students are where they should be?

the chips and monitors are not free!

Can a Hall Monitor be everywhere at once on a large campus? Hiring extra hall monitor pay and benefits is not cheap!

At my HS in the mid-90's, we had security guards in every hall to make sure nobody was wandering the halls during classes.

With Guards in every hall they are doing what the chip would do, monitor the whereabouts of all the students all day.

HeyMikey: good idea to issue tardy slips, but making students fail classes for lateness to class seems extreme. Since lateness to class costs the school money, perhaps the tardy slips could carry a fine, and students could not have their transcripts released or receive a diploma until they pay. This way, they could pass the classes (if qualified), and have only that last hurdle before graduation. I teach at a community college, and we have a rule that if students don't pay traffic and library fines, they can pick up their diplomas and have transcripts sent only when they pay those fines. It works pretty well!

You guys are missing a huge piece, let's say students are chatting in the hall and the staff see that on their system, then what? You still need staff to go tell them to get to class. It's not like you see their location in the system and can drag and drop them into the classroom. Also it's no secret to the teacher who is tardy, the tardy are the ones that show up late. You don't need an expensive high tech system for a teacher to give tardy students some sort of punishement.

If you knew where the student was at there would be no Looking for them.

Attendance at the end of class? That way the students can just kind of filter in at will when they should be in the class to begin with?

Well roc1960, there's this thing called 'being tardy', that back when I was in school, led to detention and loss of other school priviledges.

Do you not see the slippery slope of 'chip monitoring'?

So Roc, would you volunteer to wear one of these at your job so your employer can keep track of your time in the restroom?

Same principle.

When one goes into a Government building are you not given a visitors badge for monitoring?

They are not Gov't buildings!!! They are the peoples buildings!!! " We The People" built and paid for them over and over again!!!! When will everyone understand that the gov't is no longer "For The People," they have taken almost everything away from us and given it to themselves and their crooked friends. When will the schools understand that they are employed by us, the people of the states they live in and as such should be treated with dignity and respect as long we give it back. Those who give up liberty for security deserve neither.

What pays for Government buildings?

I haven't read anywhere that states the students are forced to wear them outside of school. So why not just store them in your locker during non-school hours. If forcing the people that I manage to wear badges that track their movements would limit waste and save me money in the long run? I would do it. Actually in a nearby city, they did the same thing with their city inspectors and found out one of their inspectors would routinely go home for extended periods of time on the city's time. Once the city put tracking devices in the inspector's vehicles (they used city vehicles so they would only be tracked when a city official was using them), they found this out and corrective action was taken. I know of another workplace that refuses to change to a timeclock of any sort so the employees fake when they show up and when they leave so they can always get 40 hours. If the technology is there to make something more efficient and save/make money, I have no problem doing so.

Our taxes are paying for gov't buildings roc1960.

Same as most schools Liz

So timely to bring up taxes! Chips=immediate revenue collection.

Come on people. I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist but they want you to think you have the choice. In my opinion the whole point of this is to slowly implement tracking devices into our everyday lives. Once they do that R.I.P freedom. The people that don't leave the school will get used to the id's by next school year. Next you'll be wearing one at work, then when you go shopping or out to eat, then you'll be wearing them everywhere. The government will find some excuse to implant them into civilians. They'll become a standard. Imagine what the punishment for refusing that standard would be. We'll know soon enough.

Just another chipping away at our civil rights under the false pretense of convenience. Forcing students to wear ID tags to track them in schools is a blatant disregard of our 4th amendment Constitutional rights. I applaud the ACLU for its tenacity and perseverance in wanting to abate this problem before it transfers over to a wider spectrum involving more than just students. Today, our Constitutional rights are being challenged on every level- from no refusal blood tests, to student id tracking, to TSA back scatter x-rays and pat downs, to cameras on every street corner, to intelligent streetlamps, to RFID chips in your passport, your drivers' license, your toll tags, your credit cards, your smartphones, your clothes, to the monitoring of your email and internet searches and phone calls, to the event data recorders built in to every car since 2011, to the replacement of the UPC code with an EPC code, to the use of Drones to spy on or even take out targets (people), to the biggest and most appalling discrimination of American Civil Liberties yet-- the ratification of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 signed off on New Year's Eve basically eradicating due process. We are now a "surveillance society". We watch TV and it watches us-monitoring us. Ironically, we feed the machine with information about ourselves (not unlike this post) on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Myspace, Reddit, Instagram, etc., willfully giving up information about ourselves. We perform our own surveillance now with smartphones that can record audio, video, pictures and can be loaded up instantly to the internet. Privacy is almost obsolete these days, and shows on TV like "Person of Interest" are showing us a foreshadowing of what is to come if it is not already here. We are becoming a real -life version of the video game "SIMS". All we are missing is the green diamond over our head, but really we already have that green diamond looming over us-- it's just in the form of an RFID chip.

I'm pretty sure we all know our schools are paid with our taxes so that wasn't that wise of a comment. If our taxes are paying for our schools, we the people should be able to decide whether or not the school can be allowed to follow our children with computer chips. It's an invasion of privacy and yes, this may not seem so drastic, but the government can slowly take more freedom away until we can't make our own decisions. The more dependent we are on our gov't, the more control they have over us.

Roc1960, tired of reading your government building badge argument since you've posted over and over and over and over and...........

Here are the types of Government buildings:

Capitol

City Hall

Consulate

Judicial

Embassy

Fire Station

Law Enforcement

Palace(I was surprised this is actually a category)

Parliament

Post Office

Prison

Public Resources & Services

Security

Now tell me how many of those types of buildings require you to wear these badges? Do you need one in a library? What about a DMV? What about Fish & Game Hatchery? I've been inside the Federal Reserve and wasn't required to wear bades such as this district requires. Your argument is shallow and broken, drop it.

So just go for a stroll in the local court house, by the way you pass through metal detectors also.

Stroll in a prison (not inmate) without monitoring?

Anybody can just take a stroll in a consulate or embassy

Thanks for examples

Good, so you agree. Government buildings that require the type of tracking the school district does are a minority and for GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES in high security areas not civilian children.

river boy,

your being tracked everytime you log on to the internet.

I haven't "logged on to the internet" since I had AOL in 1995. If you want to talk tech let's go, I'm in the industry and the complete and utter ignorance and inaccuracy of your other statements will make that debate a walk in the park too :)

Well then I suppose every time you go to the grocery store you pay only in cash and refuse to use a store card for you do not want to be tracked right? By the way your being monitored right here on newsvine.

A Cell phone is Unhackable by another? Ask Verizon.

Nobody's required to carry a cell phone. And even if you choose to carry one at least you can turn it off.

Still hackable. Ask Verizon.

Cell phones are safer than email but both are completely 'hackable'.

The problem with this statement is that it is not the government tracking you, it is a wide variety of private agencies, from the grocery store to Sprint. Then we assist every criminal and pedophile out there by publishing our whereabouts on Facebook and all the other social sites. A burglar doesn't have to stake out your house anymore. He just has to monitor you on facebook, where you announce your work schedule, your vacation schedule and your social engagements so he can know exactly when your home is unoccupied. He can know where your kids are and when they're supervised and what they look like and what there names are and how old they are and whether or not they're getting along with Mom.

The government didn't force us to give up our privacy. We gave it up voluntarily and enthusiastically. We announce every thought we have, every belief, every misdeed, every sexual event. What the hell is the matter with people these days? Have they never heard the phrase, "to much information"?

You have elected officials sending nude pictures of themselves over the internet, people posting their own personal sex videos. No one seems to be able to keep anything private anymore. We don't need to worry about government tracking. We're doing it for them, willingly and without reservation.

Chip in ID Card?

I really hope my kids go to a school that wants the kids to be in class at the start of class.

Jackal

I hope you teach your kids that they belong in the class at the start of the class. If they are taught this from the beginning (kindergarten) they have no idea that there is any other place they could be.

101, I believe it is the responsibility of both parties to make sure it happens. I will make sure my kids know to get to class on time and I hope the school they go to also make sure they go to class. If either party doesn't care, the kid won't go. If I don't care about my kid's education but the school does, my kid will not pay attention in school because there is no repercussion outside the walls. If I do care but the school doesn't, my kid won't pay attention because there is no reinforcement at school.

''Give them an inch, they take a mile!!!!!!!!!!!!!'' thats what he said.

Chip in ID card, no ID or altered no entry, many schools have this already.

E. Reyes- I'm not sure why you responded with anger. Is Freedom incorrect about the U.S. (in this case Texas) dealing with a large number of people living there illegally? I suppose what I have never quite understood is why some Hispanic and Latino citizens get so angry at someone who is against illegal people being in the country. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

OnlyJweinMN - All the illegals will head to Illinois, now that they can get a driver's license.

So if a kid wants to ditch they just talk a classmate into putting the ID into their back pack so they are "accounted for" and then go off and do whatever? This idea will never work unless the chip is implanted... (Being sarcastic of course) If something happens to the kid in a case like this, I wonder what kind of liability issue it might cause the school?

26 students in class, 27 shows on monitor, not to hard to figure out.

Not hard to figure out if you actually look at the monitor that is. Staff will rely on chip system to take attendance even if verification protocol is put in place,

And since when are there only 26 or 27 students in a class.. Aren't they up to 40 or 50.

Get real 26 and 27 used as example and you know it

Like I said my daughter's isn't a "locator" so it wouldn't matter if it was in her friends backpack.

Foof in a magnet or U Prep school there would only be 26 to 27 kids per class, public schools would have more (my daughter is back in public school this semester and there's still no more than 30 kids to a class)

A Chip in ID Card.

Exactly, roc1960. It's ridiculous to say, "ooooh, it's Big Brother" when the chips aren't even being implanted.

Anyway, what kind of privacy does a high school kid need other than in the bathroom? Seriously. The only other times I needed "privacy" when I was in school were when I was smoking pot in the school auditorium's rafters or making out with my boyfriend in the stairwell.

frisbeetwerp that is great. But you are only thinking about yourself. You have had a sheltered life and have not had to meet the 'creative' types who can think of dozens of other thiings to to with this technology.

You are so awesome. Great comment!

Great Comment!

In order to provide the level of education for the students, the School Districts need all of the funds it can. Most is used to pay teachers salaries. This loss revenue could be used to raise the teacher salaries or hire more teachers. The bottom line is the more funding a school gets, the higher its performance will be.

Calvinfan the highest performing schools in the US don't use this technology...micro chipping ID's does not make kids safer...poor logic.

Wouldnt be safer? Wouldnt they be safer if the school knew were the kids were?

I can't beleive the number of people complaining that the school is only doing it for the money. Um, what's wrong with that? You think education is free? Just because you aren't paying for it directly like a tuition, doesn't mean it doesn't have costs.

Contrary to popular belief, kids are supposed to go to school, go to their classes, and learn. It's not the kids doing just this that are causing problems and extreme responses. All the bellyachers whining about their privacy, blah, just another excuse their kids need to hear for their justification for ignoring the rules.

100,000 kids in this district...saying "wouldn't they be safer if the school knew where the kids were?" is the exact reason why they are using the locators. You think this will make the job of the administrators easier? This is another thing they are doing to keep kids safe...which is even more important than providing them an education. Forget the big brother stuff, forget the "mark of the beast" nonsense...this is something to keep kids safe. Stop looking for excuses and try supporting accountability!

High performing, responsible kids come from high performing, responsible homes. Enforce the rules that are in place. Stop making rules that punish responsible citizens.

Buddemon,

Enforce the rules that are in place. Stop making rules that punish responsible citizens.

Would that apply to bans also?

First of all, the article said the chips ONLY let the school know whether the student is inside the school or not. Apparently, this is acceptable as 'roll-call'.

As far as the issue of 'hall monitors' is concerned...the issue is ONLY first thing in the morning. For attendance. They are not talking about all day. They are talking about what should only take a max of 10 minutes a day!

All they have to do is, first thing in the morning, before the teachers are teaching, because classes haven't begun yet...have school personnel walk the halls, stairwells, bathrooms..all the different places kids go...and get the kids to class. It seems there should be plenty of people available to do this. Most schools these days have teacher aides, etc., and besides, in my day, the hall monitors were students!

NOT to mention the fact that this school is a MAGNATE SCHOOL! Typically, these schools are in high demand, and students are selected by lottery. Many children that want to attend aren't able because there aren't enough slots. Perhaps these kids that can't get to class should step aside and go to their home school, so the kids that would value the opportunity can have their chance.

Knowing where someone is does not insure their safety. Too many have been victims while others just stand around watching.

Just another chipping away at our civil rights under the false pretense of convenience. Forcing students to wear ID tags to track them in schools is a blatant disregard of our 4th amendment Constitutional rights. I applaud the ACLU for its tenacity and perseverance in wanting to abate this problem before it transfers over to a wider spectrum involving more than just students. Today, our Constitutional rights are being challenged on every level- from no refusal blood tests, to student id tracking, to TSA back scatter x-rays and pat downs, to cameras on every street corner, to intelligent streetlamps, to RFID chips in your passport, your drivers' license, your toll tags, your credit cards, your smartphones, your clothes, to the monitoring of your email and internet searches and phone calls, to the event data recorders built in to every car since 2011, to the replacement of the UPC code with an EPC code, to the use of Drones to spy on or even take out targets (people), to the biggest and most appalling discrimination of American Civil Liberties yet-- the ratification of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 signed off on New Year's Eve basically eradicating due process. We are now a "surveillance society". We watch TV and it watches us-monitoring us. Ironically, we feed the machine with information about ourselves (not unlike this post) on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Myspace, Reddit, Instagram, etc., willfully giving up information about ourselves. We perform our own surveillance now with smartphones that can record audio, video, pictures and can be loaded up instantly to the internet. Privacy is almost obsolete these days, and shows on TV like "Person of Interest" are showing us a foreshadowing of what is to come if it is not already here. We are becoming a real -life version of the video game "SIMS". All we are missing is the green diamond over our head, but really we already have that green diamond looming over us-- it's just in the form of an RFID chip.

Dont think a Chip in an ID card would fall under that category.

Where does most of the violence take place and start? Kids "hanging out" and not in class.

The article never sad they were going to make them come to class...just that they were going to know they were on school grounds so they could get the cash for them. If ya wanna make sure they're in class, TAKE ROLL CALL. Then watch the door. If they hafta leave, make them sign out or whatnot.

They were taking roll call but how do you count a student that is socializing in the hall and not in class?

Men in Texas love to swagger and boom and rule their state. It's not a surprise that the same government that refuses to fund Planned Parenthood for women is now going after teenagers. Those good ole cowbois figure now that their kids can't get adequate birth control, pregnancy will be on the rise and so now they have to watch every move the high school age kids with raging hormones make.

Never mind that the good ole cowbois love that "home out on the range" so much it's their veritable playground. Yep...Big Rich Texas, That Whole Other Country...that lives largely off taxes the rest of us pay for while they inject their phony as religious BS into yet another generation. Which, you wouldn't even mind so much if their biggest industries weren't hair dyes and boob jobs.

Ewent:

LMAO. I live in TX, and you have NOT A DAMN CLUE of what you speak. Planned Parenthood is age 18+ anyway.

Also, TX ALWAYS pays more in taxes than it gets back.

Seriously, all of your posts reek of ignorance.