RFID Tracking of Students Comes to San Antonio

Over the weekend, the Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas confirmed it will begin a pilot program next school year that will allow school officials to track students using Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tags installed in their school ID's. Although the initial effort will include only one high school, one middle school, and all special education students, the costs to implement the effort for just over 6,000 students of the District's nearly 100,000 are: $525,065 to install the tracking system, and $136,005 per year to run.  To read more, use the link below:

Students Will Be Tracked Via Chips In IDs

Comment: Holy burritos Batman, that sure seems like some serious bling to know where students are at any given moment on school property!  At least it does until I step back from the situation and think for a moment........ What if this program saves the life of a District student by being able to provide that student's location in a variety of personal safety scenarios? Something I would argue is going to happen over time. The price tag then looks really small compared to what a law suit settlement would look like.  

The only thing running counter to the Return On Investment analysis offered above is the inventive nature of the teenage mind. How long is it going to be before an enterprising bunch of students gets together and forms a compact where they rotate responsibility for carrying a pack of ID's to school while everyone else plays hooky? Honest, Mr. Mayer, I was here - look....see...the RFID tracking record of my location shows I was here!!!!  Can you say: "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"?