SCHOOL ID CARDS CAN SERVE SEVERAL PURPOSES

Many government and private workplaces require employees to wear some kind of identification badge to promote safety. Often, the badges are also used as "keys" to get in and out of secure buildings, providing records of who is coming and going -- and when.

With the ability to encode cards with a variety of information, there is no reason these ID cards can't perform several functions at once. That's what school systems are discovering as they introduce the badges to students this year around the area.

Three Cape Girardeau schools -- L.J. Schultz, Central High and Central Junior High -- along with schools in Sikeston, Mo., are introducing the student badges this year. In Cape Girardeau, the cards will be used several ways, while in Sikeston they will be use as debit cards for lunchroom meals.

That's how the cards are getting into most schools. They start out as replacements for meal tickets, but they quickly are upgraded to other uses such as identification and checking out library books. Other future uses could include medical records and any other information teachers or administrators might find useful.

In Cape Girardeau, the cards will be one way to teach student responsibility. How many times have parents heard about lunchroom tickets that were mysteriously lost. If the school ID cards are lost, students will be expected to pay for mandatory replacements. Other sanctions will apply for card abuses or failure on students' part to keep the cards with them.

(It's curious how youngsters learn at least limited responsibility about the time they are old enough to get a driver's license. For the most part, this small card -- so vital to teen-agers -- is rarely lost.)

The cards also will help with financial accountability. Parents who wonder if lunch money is always used on meals will have some control by making deposits that are applied to card balances. The money can be spent only by using the card.

And the cards will introduce an element of personal safety. While many of the students won't be required to wear the cards this year, by next year most Cape Girardeau students will be expected to wear the cards in plain view. It's pretty easy to tell who belongs in a classroom or hallway if everyone who is supposed to be there is wearing an ID card.

The cards will take a little getting used to. But if the workplace is any guide, it won't be long before the cards are a familiar part of the school culture.