CAPE STUDENTS TO GET ID TAGS

A new identification system will be in place when students and staff return to Cape Girardeau secondary schools in the fall.

The Board of Education approved implementation of a system to create student ID cards for seventh- through 12th-grade students and all staff at Louis J. Schultz, Central Junior High and Central High schools during a meeting Monday night. Board member David Goncher was absent from the meeting.

Assistant Superintendent Mark Bowles said the card will improve campus security because everyone who is supposed to be in the buildings will immediately be able to show proof of their identity and association with the school district. Similar to student ID cards on university campuses, the ID card also will be used as a debit card for the school lunch program.

Future plans are to use the cards for other activities, including entry into athletic and other events and for library book rental.

"We've been in meetings with various interest groups over the past few months, and students, staff and parents have all been supportive of the system," said Bowles. "I think this will be of great benefit to us, especially after the new high school opens in two years."

All secondary students and staff will begin carrying the photograph ID badges in the fall. They will be required to wear the IDs on "breakaway" cords that are issued with the cards as part of a phase-in plan over the next three years.

Beginning in the fall, seventh-graders must wear their cards from the time they get on the bus or arrive at school by other means at the beginning of the day until the time they get off the bus or leave school at the end of the day.

They also must wear the name tags on field trips, "open campus" lunch periods and other off-campus activities that occur during the school day.

Teachers of physical education or "shop" classes may allow students to take off the cards, but students are responsible for putting the cards back on before they leave the class.

Beginning in the 2001-2002 school year, students in grades seven through nine will be required to wear the cards, with 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders carrying the cards throughout the school day. In fall 2002, all students in seventh grade or older will be required to wear the identification badges.

The badges will cost between $2 and $5 to replace. Chronic failure to wear the badge could result in disciplinary action.