Posted on 11/23/2012 6:15:04 PM PST by brityank
Judge: Northside ISD CANNOT Expel Student for Rejecting RFID Tracking Chip
says district's tracking program 'violates fundamental Constitutional Rights'
A judge in Texas has barred a school district from expelling a student because she refused to wear a Radio Frequency Identification chip as part of an effort by the school to track students and make sure they attend class, 1200 WOAI news has learned.
"This is a national issue," John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute, a free market advocacy from which filed the lawsuit, told 1200 WOAI news. "Do we want to live in a surveillance state where everybody is watched?"
The controversial move by the San Antonio Northside School District to require students to wear RFID locators embedded into their student ID cards so administrators can track their movements in the school building has become a major issue in the fight over personal freedom, and the limits of government agencies to track individuals.
The school district, according to Executive Director of Communications Pascual Gonzalez, introduced the chip policy at two schools this year with an idea to extending it to all of the sprawling districts' 112 schools in coming years. The experiment by Northside, which is the fourth largest school district in Texas, is being closely watched not only by other school systems, but by privacy advocates as well.
He says the goal is not to 'spy' on students or record who they meet with. In Texas, state education funding to school districts is based on the number of students who are in class when the first period bell rings, and Northside is losing $1.7 million per year because students are in the building but not in the classroom.
"If the student is not in first period class but he is in the building, then we are able to locate him, and get him into the class," Gonzalez said.
He says the RFID tracking doesn't extend 'beyond the walls of the school building,' and the school district does not keep any records of the movements of students.
But this issue has angered activists on both ends of the political spectrum. It has been denounced by liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, which say it amounts to 'tagging children like cattle.' It has also been blasted on conservative web sites and radio talk shows as an example of the increasing control the government is attempting to exert over individuals.
"The court's willingness to grant a temporary restraining order is a good first step, but there is still a long way to go," Whitehead said. "Not just in this case, but dealing with the mindset in general that everybody needs to be monitored and controlled."
The judge prohibited the district from expelling sophomore Andrea Hernandez from the Science and Engineering Magnet School that she has been attending, and issued an order prohibiting the district from 'intimidating or retaliating' against Andrea, ruling that the RFID system is a 'clear violation of her constitutional rights.'
Andrea and her father have become vocal critics of the RFID program, and the judge also issued an order preventing school officials from blocking them from 'peacefully distributing literature' about their objections to the program on school grounds.
Whitehead says what is happing in American schools today is symbolic of a disturbing historical trend.
"Regimes in the past have always started with the schools, where they develop a compliant citizenry," he said. "These 'Student Locator' programs are ultimately aimed at getting students used to living in a total surveillance state, where there will be no privacy, and wherever you go and whatever you text or e-mail will be watched by the government."
Accept the card and carry it as required. But wrap it in foil.
but the condoms are free
the people are not
Brave New World
Nothing more.
Pick up some anti-static plastic pouches to keep them in, not so noticeable and ‘just keeping it clean!’
Well - 53% of us are.
Sorry to say, but this goose is done for. Wish I were 7 instead of 70 - and know what I do now, or even what I believed then!
Public school is child abuse.
To those of you say wear it - wrapped in foil or in anti-static plastic wrap ... NO NO NO NEVER... never wear it - Never Comply ... never give up basic American freedoms... Children and Parents - NEVER give into such Anti-Constitutional measures
It is legitimate to require a student to have a student ID when in school. The foil method obeys the letter of the law without letting the things work as intended.
Sorry, but I have NO RESPECT for parents that send their kids to public school just so they can buy the latest Lexus or 60” plasma. The idea of letting a bunch of virtual strangers that can’t even make it through liberal arts in college (education majors are lower on the totem pole) have the first (and really the only) shot at educating ones kids is just revolting to me.
No - it is not ... giving in to ELECTRONIC TRACKING is giving in to any an all public survelience... Privacy intrusion is Liberty intrusion
Satan never sleeps and he will keep trying to impose his mark.
Sotheby’s electronic roster shows all present and accounted for. But there’s only a backpack full of cards sitting in the room. All the kids are out smoking, drinking and smooching.
>>We are the feral government’s livestock now.
We’ve been livestock for a several years now...under Republican and Democrat administrations. But, we’ve just been allowed to wander the fields as much as we wanted as long as we stayed inside the fencelines.
Now, the trucks are pulling up to the chutes and they are starting to herd us toward them.
How is defeating the electronic tracking giving into it?
Excellent styling! That is quite a mousse!
I’ve got one of those for work. But if you really don’t want the thing to work just burn out the chip. It can be done without being too obvious.
“But wrap it in foil.”
Microwave on high 20 seconds.
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