http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/17/technology/17tag.html?oref=login&th
The New York Times
|
Chief
Bragg is not using video surveillance. Rather, he watches an icon on a computer
screen. The icon marks the spot on a map where Courtney got off the bus, and,
on a larger level, it represents the latest in the convergence of technology
and student security.
Hoping to
prevent the loss of a child through kidnapping or more innocent circumstances,
a few schools have begun monitoring student arrivals and departures using
technology similar to that used to track livestock and pallets of retail
shipments.
Here in a
growing middle- and working-class suburb just north of
In a
variation on the concept, a
At the
Spring district, where no student has ever been kidnapped, the system is
expected to be used for more pedestrian purposes, Chief Bragg said: to reassure
frantic parents, for example, calling because their child, rather than coming
home as expected, went to a friend's house, an extracurricular activity or a
Girl Scout meeting.
When the
district unanimously approved the $180,000 system, neither teachers nor parents
objected, said the president of the board. Rather, parents appear to be applauding.
"I'm sure we're being overprotective, but you hear about all this
violence," said Elisa Temple-Harvey, 34, the parent of a fourth grader.
"I'm not saying this will curtail it, or stop it, but at least I know she
made it to campus."
The
project also is in keeping with the high-tech leanings of the district, which
built its own high-speed data network and is outfitting the schools with
wireless Internet access. A handful of companies have adapted the technology
for use in schools.
But there
are critics, including some older students and privacy groups like the American
Civil Liberties Union, who argue that the system is security paranoia.
The
decades-old technology, called radio frequency identification, or RFID, is
growing less expensive and developing vast new capabilities. It is based on a
computer chip that has a unique number programmed into it and contains a tiny
antenna that sends information to a reader.
The same
technology is being used by companies like Wal-Mart
to track pallets of retail items. Pet owners can have chips embedded in cats
and dogs to identify them if they are lost.
In
October, the Food and Drug Administration approved use of an RFID chip that
could be implanted under a patient's skin and would carry a number that linked
to the patient's medical records.
At the
Spring district, the first recipients of the computerized ID badges have been
the 626 students of
Felipe,
wearing a gray, hooded sweatshirt with a Spiderman logo and blue high-top
tennis shoes also with a Spiderman logo, wore his yellow ID badge on a string
around his neck. When he climbed on to the bus, he pressed the badge against a
flat gray "reader"just inside the bus door. The reader ID beeped.
Shortly
after, he was followed onto the bus by Christopher Nunez, a 9-year-old fourth
grader. Christopher said it was important that students wore badges so they did
not get lost. Asked what might cause someone to get lost, he said, "If
they're in second grade they might not know which street is their home."
But on
the morning Felipe and Christopher shared a seat on bus No. 38, the district
experienced one of the early technology hiccups. When the bus arrived at
school, the system had not worked. On the Web site that includes the log of
student movements, there was no record that any of the students on the bus had
arrived.
It was
just one of many headaches; the system had also made double entries for some
students, and got arrival times and addresses wrong for others. "It's
early glitches," said Brian Weisinger, the head of transportation for the
Spring district, adding that he expected to work out the problems.
But for
the
The
system is set up so that when students walk in the door each morning, they pass
by one of two kiosks - which together cost $40,000 - designed to pick up their
individual radio frequency numbers as a way of taking attendance. Initially,
though, the kiosks failed to register some students, or registered ones who
were not there.
Mark
Walter, head of technology for the
In the
long run, however, the biggest problem may be human error. Parents, teachers
and administrators said their primary worry is getting students to remember
their cards, given they often forget such basics as backpacks, lunch money and
gym shoes. And then there might be mischief: students could trade their cards.
Still,
administrators in
And the
administrators in
Some
older students are not so enthusiastic.
"It's
too Big Brother for me," said Kenneth Haines, a 15-year-old ninth grader
who is on the football and debate teams. "Something about the school
wanting to know the exact place and time makes me feel kind of like an
animal."
Middle
and high school students already wear ID badges, but they have not yet been
equipped with the RFID technology. Even so, some bus drivers are apparently
taking advantage of the technology's mythical powers by telling students that
they are being tracked on the bus in order to get them to behave better.
Kenneth's
opinion is echoed by organizations like the A.C.L.U. and the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit group that promotes "digital
rights."
It is
"naïve to believe all this data will only be used to track children in the
extremely unlikely event of the rare kidnapping by a stranger," said Barry
Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty program at the A.C.L.U.
Mr.
Steinhardt said schools, once they had invested in the technology, could feel
compelled to get a greater return on investment by putting it to other uses,
like tracking where students go after school.
Advocates
of the technology said they did not plan to go that far. But, they said, they
do see broader possibilities, such as implanting RFID tags under the skin of
children to avoid problems with lost or forgotten tags. More immediately, they
said, they could see using the technology to track whether students attend
individual classes.
Mr.
Weisinger, the head of transportation at Spring, said that, for now, the district
could not afford not to put the technology to use. Chief Bragg said the key to
catching kidnappers was getting crucial information within two to four hours of
a crime - information such as the last place the child was seen.
"We've
been fortunate; we haven't had a kidnapping," Mr. Weisinger said.
"But if it works one time finding a student who has been kidnapped, then
the system has paid for itself."