Marshall Independent School District in Marshall, Texas, has taken an initiative to increase safety on its campus by requiring all students to wear ID badges.
Students will wear the lanyards around their necks at all times during school hours, reports Marshall News.
“ID cards have been issued to every student at Marshall High School and Marshall Junior High School, and they’re required to wear them at all times,” said Marshall ISD Superintendent Jerry Gibson. “This is 100 percent a safety matter.”
According to Gibson, the decision for the new security measure is a result of an incident that occurred this past fall.
He says a person walked into the school, hid out and waited and then got into a fight with a student. At the time, students had IDs, but wearing them around their necks was not mandatory.
“This person wasn’t even a student,” said Gibson. “I asked how he got in with nobody noticing that he didn’t have a student ID, and I realized that our students weren’t required to wear IDs visible on them at all times.”
New badge machines have also been ordered for both schools, as well as new cards and lanyards
“We do have a buzz-in system now at the high school, but what if someone opened a back door for someone else?” he said. “This is just another way to ensure our students are as safe as they can be.”
Come Thursday, students caught without their ID lanyards will be reprimanded.
A first-time offender will be issued a warning and required to wear a visitor sticker. The second time, a call will be made home and the student will receive detention after school. The third infraction is a call to their parents and required Thursday night school. The fourth offense will result in a one-day in-school suspension (ISS) and the fifth means a three-day ISS.
This is the school’s way to enhance safety, not a means to punish students, says Gibson.
