MUST READ: "Company Pulls Out of Contract to Track Students"

[Norquist Nemesis]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBGJKDP95E.html
Company Pulls Out of Contract to Track Students
The Associated Press
Published: Feb 16, 2005

SUTTER, Calif. (AP) - The grade school that required students to wear radio frequency identification badges that can track their every move has ended the program because the company that developed the technology pulled out.
"I'm disappointed; that's about all I can say at this point," Earnie Graham, the superintendent and principal of Brittan Elementary School in Sutter, said Tuesday night. "I think I let my staff down. Nobody on this campus knows every student."

The badges, developed by Sutter-based technology company InCom Corp., were introduced on Jan. 18. The school board was set to talk about the controversial policy Tuesday night but tabled the discussion after InCom announced it was terminating its agreement.

"I'm not convinced it's over," parent Dawn Cantrall, who filed a complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union, told the (Marysville) Appeal-Democrat. "I'm happy for now that kids are not being tagged, but I'm still fighting to keep it out of our school system. It has to stop here."

<snip>

I missed this somewhere along the way. Outrageous, IMO. And the 'tracking' was going to be done without parental input according to the article.

Wow...I must lead an exremely shelted life or something. Absolutely shocking.

[sybylla]

1. WTF - "Nobody on this campus knows every student."

Either some people are falling down in their jobs or that grade school is way too fucking big.

Christ, I went to a highschool that had 1200 students and I knew 75% of my fellow students by name. The rest I could identify as belonging there or not. What the hell is the matter with these people who think they can do their job educating kids from their office?

I got an idea. Get off your ass and get out into the halls once in a while.

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. The first part of the quote is more telling

Let her staff down? She and the Board seem to forget who they serve...the parents. NO input from parents on this 'controversial' policy.

I'd be whipping my kid out of there and encouraging everyone else to do so as well. Hit the school for a week with no students and they'll become very accommodating listeners.

[atommom]

3. As a parent, I would have been upset too. We probably haven't

seen the last of this issue, but I'm glad they pulled the plug on this little "experiment." I've seen other stories about how many students consider the First Amendment rights "no big deal" ... I'm afraid scenarios like this will only train them to think that privacy is no big deal either. That's not going to benefit our side in the long run.