The answer to the question racing through your brain as you wait in the line outside of school:

Yes, you just may be late to class.

As everyone must scan their ID card one by one to enter the building, it can cause you to be tardy, or even marked absent in your class.

What, did you think you that you arrived on time?

On the morning of September 5th, Jeff Jones, security guard, instructed the students to scan their ID on the new RFID card system before they came inside. There were many people trying to scan their IDs one by one causing a large jam and making students late for class. All students who did not have an ID were forced to walk to the front of the school with just seven minutes left until first period began.

Is there a point to this machine? There have been 150 school shootings in the United States in 2018 alone. After all of this, there hasn’t been much done on a national level, so schools in BVSD took action to make schools a safer place.

The new system is supposed to be helping with safety issues, but students have some other thoughts on that.

Solymar Kneale, a sophomore, said, “If you lose your card and someone picks it up off the street, anyone can get in really.”

The ID cards are equipped with a number that includes all of a student’s personal information from your library books to the exact second you entered the building. If your ID card is lost, a simple trip to the office can get your original ID card deactivated and a replacement is in order for ten dollars.

“[The RFID System] eases our minds of school shootings and school safety,” Sheen Steinbarth, senior, said.

On the flipside is Gracie Jamison, a freshman, who said, “It doesn’t make me feel any different or safer.”  

Although there are many mixed opinions, this new RFID system along with 119 security cameras around the school, is a step towards a safer, less nervous-minded school.

This school has gone 58 years without a ID card system. Security has protected the school from bears in the area to a threatening color guard rifle. One very familiar face is Jones who mans the front doors, and occasionally the bottom doors.

“It’s a system that will work with people who work with it,” said Jones. “The first day we did a test run (September 5th) and nobody was really prepared. The second day, everybody zoomed in.”

How can you escape being late? Making sure you’re prepared. This new RFID system will go into a confidential record to keep track of who enters the school at an exact time.

Phoebe Wu, a freshman, said, “We found that you didn’t even have to take your ID out of your wallet for it to scan. It’s really that simple.”