Actually without any real planning or targeting that would just raise the budgets and vendor costs. The things that we would need are too varied and complex to be done from the top down: more arts electives, more various and evenly funded and prioritized sporting options, more residential diversity which would reduce the impulse for busing, gerrymandered districts and allow for more student-body cohesiveness and academic parity; significantly less entertainment options to narrow priorities and focus mental attention, and fairly draconian custodial, tutoring and time-management policies for at risk demographics.
People will figure out how to get around it. They will find someone who goes to class and will give them their ID to hold on to if they want to skip.
They opened a new school my soph year which took it down to like 700. My graduating class ended up being like 350 or something. RFIDs would definitely be useful in many of the 5A schools, like mine.
I never had a "school ID" until I went to college. "The students are not impacted at all ...other than they'll be tracked to within 6" of the their location at all times. ...other than that, no impact" Was that sarcasm? Please tell me it was. The entire idea behind this is obscene. Why not cut to the chase and have a permanent tracking chip placed inside our bodies at birth? Why the hell not? It's not different than this. I have a daughter starting her junior year in high school next Fall at AISD's magnet high schiool. If they suddenly announced that they were doing this, I would pull her out. At some point, you have to stand up and draw a line in the sand for the protection of our personal freedoms, and our rights under the constitution. This goes beyond the pale. Whoever pushed this through should have a tracking chip shoved up his penis with a chisel and a ball-peen hammer.
First of all, there is no way they can track RFID to within six feet across an entire school. Think about how hard it is for Easy Pass to scan your car through a toll booth. They have massive sensors for that. How is the school knowing where students are a violation of personal freedoms?
I don't remember having my ID card with me to school when I went to Lamar in the early 2000's. Hell, I don't think we ever needed them.
I think you have it backwards. Vouchers remove resources from the public school(s), which means even fewer teachers per student.
It was sarcasm. That said, what personal freedom rights do children have? Do 12 year olds have the same rights? How about 8 year olds? What about 6? Do your kids have a right to personal freedom in your house? Have you ever opened your kids door without asking? I think it is an interesting question. How much of YOUR personal freedom do you voluntarily give up by using your GPS smart phone with a gmail account? They track FAR more than a high school RFID system ever could dream.
First off, I'm very glad that you were being sarcastic. I figured as much. As for your comments? I knock on my kids' doors and ask if I can come in, assuming the door is closed. Often, it isn't. Did I do that when they were 2 or 3? Probably not. I think that it isn't hard to understand the difference between a toddler and an 11 year old, much less a teenager. One of my kids is a senior at university, the other 16 and about to start her junior year, as I said. As for cell phones and personal freedom? Do a search, and you will find several posts from me complaining about the curb on personal freedom created by cell phones. They didn't exist until I was an adult and married. I'm very aware of what life was like before they existed, and the problems they have created. I care deeply about personal freedom, and telling your children that you don't trust them by allowing this atrocity isn't good parenting, IMO, unless you have been given good cause. Allowing the state to make those decisions for you is rediculous. Frankly, I don't see why the concept is difficult to understand.
@Deckard I agree about the cell phones, it's annoying that you can't disconnect. I spent my early teens (12-16) texting my parents everytime I went somewhere. I almost wish I was born 20 years earlier, where you and your friends would bike everywhere and your parents had no clue where you went, as long as you came home for dinner. It's nice now, being able to drive and not having to tell them everywhere I go, but there's still that sense of helicopter-parenting none the less.
Good for you. I don't think that is where most folks are right now. People were so scared during 9/11 and those phones are so darn cool, it seems 99% of folks don't think twice to give up a little personal freedom for extra security and/or extra conveniences.
The next thing will be a large book in a bright color that has the name, phone number, and address of every American living in the United States.
That book was opt-in, if you recall and it doesn't pin point your location at any given moment to the highest bidder. We already know that law enforcement routinely uses cell phone GPS to track people. But if you don't care about that sort of thing, I'm sure you don't care about RFIDing school kids.
