Tiffany Craig reports:
Students in Santa Fe have to wear ID badges to class, complete with a built-in tracking device. The Smart Badge program started this school year, and is getting mixed reviews from parents and students.
Patrick Mann is a senior and said he feels like he’s in prison.
“Normally, the one people you would track are say prisoners or somebody that’s done something very wrong,” Mann said.
All students at Santa Fe Junior High and Santa Fe High School have to wear the radio frequency IDs.
The sensors are in the ceiling on campus, but Mann said they keep tabs of you off campus too.
He said he got busted a few days ago.
“At that Shell Station, they can see exactly where I am,” Mann said. “I know that because the school cops came up there and said, ‘Hey, you need to get back to school. We tracked you over here.’”
Read more on KHOU.
This is exactly the kind of student surveillance that we should all be discussing and debating, as I commented in my post on how schools are grooming students for a surveillance state.
If students cut class or cut school, the attendance officer should notify the parents. In my opinion, schools should not be sending out officers to track students down unless they have genuine reason to believe that a student is in danger or at risk.
The phrase “hunt you down like a dog” keeps coming to mind as I read these news stories….
Via @iGeldard