back to article Texas school strikes devil's bargain, drops RFID student tracking

The Texas school that expelled a student for refusing to comply with its plan to track pupils with RFID tags has dropped the scheme, saying it just doesn't work. In November, Northside Independent School District (NISD) in San Antonio, Texas, began a trial of RFID tracking for students in an attempt to cut down on truancy. The …

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  1. Tom 35

    So will they

    Spend another half million on a facial recognition system and dump that in 6 months because it still didn't work.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So will they

      http://rfidinschools.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/rfidjournal-article9476-1.pdf

      Already tracking students at West Cheshire College

  2. andreas koch
    Holmes

    @ Tom 35 - So will they

    Yep.

  3. korikisulda

    I also wonder if

    This had anything to do with students deliberately trying to sabotage it by leaving via the window?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    > 200 cameras

    Jesus H Christ, 200 cameras?

    1. Jason Ozolins
      Devil

      Cameras to watch cameras

      Schools have lots of rooms, and lots of corridors. Each needs a camera, but actually you need two cameras that can see each other so as to deter the darlings from destroying the cameras.

      A few years back, a workmate's wife moved out of secondary school teaching in a reasonably affluent suburb of Canberra. She was sick of being threatened and physically abused by children whose parents would simply refuse to entertain the idea that their offspring were less than perfect, and who made every escalation up the rung of disciplinary measures into a pitched battle. She would have welcomed cameras in the classroom, and I'm sure that the students who enjoyed similar treatment to her at the hands of the same thugs (of both sexes) would probably prefer surveillance to the ongoing threat of assault.

      [Yes, I am bitter, and I do think of the lot I had to deal with in high school and wonder whether as they got older, they continued to enjoy causing suffering whenever they could get away with it. If so, I hope that their smoking habits are starting to catch up with them in various malignant ways, so as to slow them down a tad.]

    2. fishman

      <<<Jesus H Christ, 200 cameras?>>>

      Really - what do they think they are - London?

    3. beep54
      Coat

      Well, you know the old joke: It's Texas! We do everything bigger here! It's either that or they are trying to compete with Britain on the CCTV front....

    4. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Big Brother

      @skelband

      "Jesus H Christ, 200 cameras?"

      ...and don't forget...

      "The NISD is also hiring more police officers to patrol the halls."

      "more"? You mean they already have Police patrolling inside the school? That must be one rough school!

  5. This post has been deleted by its author

  6. tempemeaty

    There school administrators and the judges showed their true colors

    They acted like real Luciferians until they were forced to cave in on their chip tracking of kids like cattle scheme.

    And 200 camera now? Over-kill much? They are still showing their true colors....

  7. JimmyPage Silver badge

    200 cameras ?

    Amateurs

  8. JustWondering
    WTF?

    200 cameras??

    Will they have more people watching the cameras than they have teaching the kids?

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: 200 cameras??

      No they simply mount a camera on each student and have them automatically uploaded to facebook

  9. Hud Dunlap
    Facepalm

    Let's waste even more money.

    The School system is 1.3 Billion dollars in debt. Yes that is a "B" and not an "M". My property taxes are more than a payment on a good mid sized car.

  10. Someone Else Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Now THAT'S the way to get yerself a quality edumacation

    So lemme get this straight...the prison cum hall of higher education (such as what passes for "education" in Tejanoland) couldn't get their truancy rates down, so the spent a buttload of money to chip and pin the prisoners students, and when those rascally students figured out how to game the system, they throw all that money down the drain and turn the fortress school building into a surveillance zone worthy of any super-max prison...at some undisclosed "additional cost", right?

    We can see how well these administrators benefited from a quality Texas education, all right.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Now THAT'S the way to get yerself a quality edumacation

      Following concerns about wireless technology a new direct student-student cabled network system has been introduced = Combined Houston Area Integrated Network - Gang

      In partnership with the department of transport the students will also be taking part in a new practical course of road side hydrological engineering

    2. Tom 13

      Re: worthy of any super-max prison

      I doubt the super-max would have that many cameras, although they will have them in the bathrooms. I'm guessing it's 50-50 on whether or not the school has cameras there.

  11. Allan George Dyer

    "NISD spent $500,000" on the PILOT?

    They were pretty brave to admit it was completely wasted!

    I can imagine the RFID company's business plan:

    1. Do

    2. Sell Expensive pilot RFID student tracking system to School

    3. School finds system is ineffective and scraps it

    4. Buy back hardware at half-price

    5. Make unspecified "software improvements"

    6. Double Expensive, increment School

    7. Until School too scared to admit money is wasted

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Alternatively...

      Monorail!

  12. BornToWin

    Just expel the dumbarse kids

    It's a PITA dealing with dumbarse kids who don't want to abide by the rules of society. Just expel their arses and let them use home schooling or remain dumbarses.

  13. LateNightLarry
    Paris Hilton

    Alternatively...

    This school is in Texas, after all... Texas and its state government have already demonstrated that education is unimportant to them, especially to the governor and the legislature. Why not just give all the kids a choice of attending high school or starting their prison career a couple of years early.

  14. kain preacher

    I have great but cheap way to track the students. Make them all wear uniforms. To make sure these kids are the right kids make them wear a neckless with their student ID. To make it easier track the kids on camera , put there student ID on the uniforms. Then have hall monitors checks the student IDs .The student IDs would be used to to clock them in and out. Oh and to make it easier to see if some is leaving the grounds before they should out a giant P I mean S on the back of the uniforms. Dont forget the random locker checks.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I have great but cheap way to track the students. Make them all wear uniforms.

      But this is America and if you do this you'll get "1st Ammendment" nutters taking you to court for infringing the "free speach" rights of wearing your own choice of clothes - alternatively others will find reasons to get the uniform struck down on basis of religious/gender/race reasons. (I lived for a few years in California at the end of th 90s and definitely remember reading an article in a paper from someone explaining how to ensure that your child didn't have to wear school uniform and it was mainly based on 1st ammendment rights)

      1. kain preacher

        The supreme court has ruled that students have limited rights on school grounds. Yes you can force the kids to wear uniforms.

    2. kain preacher

      I guess I forgot to use the sarcasm tag.

    3. beep54

      You forgot the tattoos. A good numbering system should work nicely there.

  15. CapnAHAB

    Unreal

    I think we should steer clear of using words like 'Headshot' in articles about American schools..

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Unreal

      Yes, absolutely ! Let us add yet another layer of Political Correctness to our sad, sad world.

      Oh, and call Hollywood too, so that they can find a new word for all those photos candidates are supposed to include in their CVs when looking for a job in Kahlifoniyaa !

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    enhanced camera surveillance

    I thought they were talking about the UK.... Sorry bout the hijack

    1. andreas koch
      Megaphone

      @ AC 0835 - Re: enhanced camera surveillance

      The UK? We here in the old world are way ahead of that, take a look at this. Specially the "extra security" box in the bottom right. Voluntary fingerprinting? I didn't think so; so I had to tell my kids that they can't buy at the school shop/ canteen and have to take a packed lunch. They even agreed.

      And then I found that to pay for a school trip, you had to do this through this same sQuid service, with all the bells and whistles of the fingerprints again. It took me hours in talks to get them to accept an alternative payment and in the end I had to write out my first ever UK cheque.

      Are there cameras in the toilets/ restrooms? Yep, there are.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
        WTF?

        Re: @ AC 0835 - enhanced camera surveillance

        "I didn't think so; so I had to tell my kids that they can't buy at the school shop/ canteen and have to take a packed lunch. They even agreed."

        Bear in mind the article on the Beeb website the other days where this some campaign or other asking for the banning of packed lunches in schools because some parents are not putting a proper balanced diet in their little darlings lunchboxes.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Easy solution

    Here's an idea, the teachers can just call out names at the start of the class. If a student isnt there, then write that down. If the student misses a certain amount of classes, they fail and have to redo the class next year. Sure you will end up with some morons still repeating 8th grade classes at age 30, but most will drop out at a very young age and then who cares.

    There's plenty of gas stations around the country...

    1. Tom 13

      Re: Easy solution

      That doesn't get the school district more money, which was the object of the project.

      Personally I think it's a good idea, but I don't get to write the rules.

  18. teebie

    "proof that change is possible"

    ...but that improvement isn't.

  19. Paw Bokenfohr
    Thumb Up

    Extra *teachers* rather than extra security/monitoring/police/whatever

    _The school could spend the money getting class sizes down to a reasonable size where the teacher actually has a chance of spotting if someone is playing truant. It's old-fashioned, but it might just work_

    That's ridiculously sensible.

    1. Tom 13

      Re: Extra *teachers* rather than extra security/monitoring/police/whatever

      I don't think they have a problem spotting the missing students. I think the problem is that by the time they know the student is missing it is too late to prevent it. Then the school district loses money. Maybe extra teachers would help, maybe not. Given that the issue is money, I'm guessing it's an inner city school with little involvement from parents, or worse what involvement they do have inhibits a good educational environment. It's a tough nut to crack.

      Personally I'm willing to try a radical experiment: provide a set amount of money available to each student for his schooling. Student can go to any public or private institution which admit him. If you are truant, you lose the access to the money. Keep the pot of money relatively fixed based on census data, so that if someone drops out, more money becomes available to the kids who remain. Formula should include more money for special needs students than average Joe to handle that aspect.

      Either that or make it illegal to go to school so all the kids will want to try it.

      1. Hud Dunlap
        FAIL

        @tom 13

        It is not inner city. Schools in the area run from 100K to 300k and higher with the new Subdivisions going up.

        Yes some of the subdivisions have high crime rates but for the most part it is not bad. I can walk down my street at 2am and no one will bother me.

        1. andreas koch
          Joke

          @ Hud Dunlap - Re: @tom 13

          > . . .

          I can walk down my street at 2am and no one will bother me.

          <

          Is this because you look like a Mafia henchman?

          Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Extra *teachers* rather than extra security/monitoring/police/whatever

        "... make it illegal to go to school so all the kids will want to try it."

        I think the Taliban is trying that already ...

  20. Aaiieeee

    The school burns cash to earn cash - this is all about earning money and seems out of place in this scenario, its a school! Some kids just don't want to learn. Why burn cash to force them to be in school when they just don't want to be? Spend the money on improving the school experience for the kids who DO want to learn. What a joke, teachers are out looking for missing kids just so the school can earn money. Teach the kids that did bother to turn up FFS!

    When I went through school there was no concept of developing a good work ethic, and personal responsibility, and the lifelong repercussions of making no effort in life. Whilst this is something parents should do, I am sure most parents don't actually have any idea how to be parents, or don't want to be.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    School systems were invented for...

    ...aiding integration into a caste system. What a great way to snuff that spark of intelligence. If you are too stupid to learn on your own, no one can teach you. So just go and run naked through the forest. You'll probably be happier anyway. ;)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: School systems were invented for...

      "So just go and run naked through the forest. You'll probably be happier anyway. ;)"

      In that brief period prior to the arrest and court case, perhaps.

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