In the upcoming 2018-19 school year, Sanderson is planning to introduce a new safety measure. Each student will be provided with a photo ID badge, which is to be worn throughout the school day. The purpose of the student IDs is to help teachers identify the students on campus quickly. However, there is a chance these badges will do more harm than good.

This new safety precaution could be effective, but it depends on the attitudes students take towards the policy. If students choose to see it as an improvement to school safety and cooperate, then the IDs will work. However, students could also choose to not comply. Some may see it as a waste of time since the badges don’t prevent any sort of threat. Others may just lose or forget them on their way out the door in the morning, and IDs cost $10 to replace. If this is the case, what happens when a teacher sees a student without his or her ID badge?

Sanderson teacher Jordan Miller believes the badges will increase the efficiency of the school’s tardy system. “The whole purpose is for us to get you to class faster,” she states. “Now for the tardy system, we’ll just be able to scan the badges and not make you wait while we find you in the system or write you a pass.” Although it will contribute to the way the school handles tardies, Miller does acknowledge there will be problems with these badges. “I do think there’s going to be some kinks to work out with people losing or refusing to wear them,” she says.

Mia Huffman, a Sanderson sophomore, disapproves of the new badges. “We need our government to take action and implement new gun laws if they truly want us to be safe,” she said. “You’d think that after so many school shootings and threats, we’d get more than a badge. It’s just a bandaid for a much bigger wound.”

Unfortunately, there are too many problems with this system for it to be successful. It’s beneficial to teachers, but what about the students? How long before we are provided with an actual security system, not just a slightly better tardy system? The administration has yet to show how these badges will improve the school’s security. The badge system clearly comes with plenty of problems. If the school plans to make students pay for their own lost or stolen badges, then a quick rejection of the badges can be expected.

This program will be the first of its kind at Sanderson. It will take time for students to grow accustomed to the badges and it is under their control whether the badges will work at all. Only time will tell whether or not this system proves to be an effective safety measure, but so far it only looks like a new problem.