San Antonio Northside School District aka Big Brother wastes education money, RFID student tracking, Student expelled for refusing to wear tracking chip

“Increased attendance = increased state revenues”…San Antonio Northside School District

“In Northside ISD, it’s not about the technology. It’s about the bottom line – our children – and what the technology does for NISD students and staff.”…Northside School District 2010 bond referendum

“We control life, Winston, at all its levels. You are imagining that there is something called human nature which will be outraged by what we do and will turn against us. But we create human nature. Men are infinitely malleable.”…George Orwell, “1984″

Somebody in Texas has more money than sense.

Another example of spending money on education and not considering the “customer”, the student and their parents.

From WND November 20, 2012.

“STUDENT EXPELLED FOR REFUSING SPYCHIP”

“A student in a Texas school district has been told she is to be expelled for refusing to wear a student ID badge that essentially places her in an “electronic concentration camp.”

“Regimes in the past have always started with the schools, where they develop a compliant citizenry,” John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute said. “They are getting students used to living in a total surveillance state where there will be no privacy, wherever you go and whatever you text or email will be watched by the government. This is where everything is headed.”

WND previously reported on the case of Andrea Hernandez, a student at John Jay High School in the Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas. This year, the school implemented a new program requiring students to wear badges containing an RFID chip, which would be used to track them anywhere they went, including the restrooms. Hernandez refused to wear the chip, citing privacy and religious issues.

The RFID card is part of a pilot program called the “Student Locator Project” at John Jay and Anson Jones Middle School, which the district hopes to expand to cover all of its 112 schools, with a total student population of 100,000.

The primary intent of the tracking cards is not to increase student safety but to increase state funding to the district.

WOAI-TV in San Antonio reported district spokesman Pasqual Gonzalez said the two schools have a high rate of truancy, and the district could gain $2 million in state funding by improving attendance.

Despite the schools having 290 surveillance cameras, officials apparently believe that is not enough to keep track of students attending the schools.

After her refusal to wear the tracking chip, Hernandez was warned in a letter that there would “be consequences.” Following through on its threats, the district sent Hernandez a letter informing her she would expelled effective Nov. 26.

The Rutherford Institute intends to file a request for a temporary restraining order this week that would prohibit school officials from expelling Hernandez.

“She is a great achiever academically and she worked hard to get here. She should not be expelled for simply standing up for her First Amendment rights,” Whitehead said.”

Read more:

http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/student-expelled-for-refusing-spychip/

From Northside ISD.

“Northside ISD is harnessing the power of radio frequency identification technology (RFID) to make schools safer, know where our students are while at school, increase revenues, and provide a general purpose “smart” ID card.

Parents entrust us with their children and expect that we always know where their children are; this technology will help us do that.

THE PILOT

The Student Locator Project is currently being piloted at two schools. They are Jay High School and Jones Middle School, two of 112 schools in Northside ISD. The pilot will last one year after which time the data will be evaluated and decisions made about further implementation in future years.

Jay and Jones have a combined enrollment of 4,200 students (out of a projected 100,000 students in NISD). The pilot is small relative to the size of the school district. The “smart” ID cards only work within the school.

THREE GOALS

Increase student safety and security. Our students’ parents expect that we always know where their children are in our schools.
Increase attendance. Through more efficient attendance management, schools can generate additional revenues by identifying students who are not in their seats during roll call but who are in the school and locate them. (Increased attendance = increased state revenues)
Provide multi-purpose “Smart” Student ID card. The Student ID will provide access to the library and cafeteria, serve as a photo ID, and allow for the purchase of tickets to schools’ extracurricular activities. Other uses will be rolled out during the pilot program.”

http://www.nisd.net/studentlocator/

Their primary motivation:

“Increase attendance. Through more efficient attendance management, schools can generate additional revenues by identifying students who are not in their seats during roll call but who are in the school and locate them. (Increased attendance = increased state revenues)”

From the 2010 school bond:

“Summary Safety & Security
• Cameras & access control $26.5 mil.
• Bus cameras $3.5 mil.
• RFID student tracking $1.1 mil.
• Police communications $1.0 mil.
• Total cost of safety & security projects = $32.1 mil.”

http://bond.nisd.net/2010/committee/docs/Technology_and_School_Safety.pdf

This is one of the more shocking examples of the misapplication of funds and priorities that I have encountered in public education.

For their Orwellian efforts to track students and their obfuscating wordsmithing, the San Antonio Northside School District is awarded 5 Orwells.