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Desert Vista High School Prison????
Desert Vista High to require students to display IDs By Coty Dolores Miranda Special for The Republic | azcentral.com Fri Aug 2, 2013 1:50 PM Starting with the new school year Monday, Desert Vista High and Compadre Academy students must wear student photo-identification cards on lanyards that were given to them during book-distribution days this week. Desert Vista students, like most in the Tempe Union High School District, had been required to carry photo-ID cards on their person while on the Ahwatukee campus, ready to show them if asked. Other TUHSD schools plan to maintain their show-upon-request policy in the new school year. Staff and students at Compadre Academy’s main campus and north campus in Tempe will once again be wearing their IDs on lanyards. That policy was implemented last year. At Marcos de Niza and Corona del Sol high schools in Tempe, staff members display their ID badges and, as with other TUHSD campuses, students are required to have them in their possession each school day. For the past decade, TUHSD policy has required school photo IDs be carried during school hours on campus and at school events by each student. Security guards at all TUHSD schools have received training that requires them to check all adults entering schools or on campus. If they do not have ID badges, they will go through check-in procedures at the front offices. Desert Vista principal Anna Battle says the change to wearing photo IDs not only is a security and safety measure but also an opportunity for administration, staff and students to interact. “I can tell you three reasons why we want students and staff to display their IDs,” Battle said. “First, relationships are key to safety. Students will know teachers by name, and the faculty staff will know students by name. As we move about the campus, we will all become better acquainted and relationships will grow. “Secondly, Desert Vista and all TUHSD schools have outstanding students, so it’s not that we are singling out our students. What we do want is to ensure we surround them with people who are supposed to be on campus on a daily basis. “Third, ID pouches will also be used for the new Response to Intervention program beginning this year. This is a committee of teachers, staff, students and parents, along with input from the rest of the faculty, that will oversee a program where students will have time during the day to get assistance in classes, and time to work on other class work during the school day.” Battle said she believes that additional security measures on campus are important to parents. She acknowledges that the ID display will be a gradual learning process. “We’re going to work into the process and educate students on the importance of displaying the IDs,” she said. “Until students get it down and understand that it’s only a change in how we’re doing business, kind reminders is what they’ll experience.” The policy of visitors to campus leaving their driver’s license at the front office in exchange for a visitor’s pass clip-on will continue at Desert Vista, Battle said. Only Desert Vista freshmen and new students were photographed for their IDs during this week’s book-distribution days for their new IDs. Returning students may use their old ID cards or apply for a replacement. For Desert Vista junior Katelyn Miyasaki, last year’s photo now displayed on her new plain-blue lanyard is not a problem, she says, even though it may not go with every outfit she wears. “I think, although it might cause some inconvenience for students, it’s really a way to add extra security, and protecting the students and keeping us safe is really the important thing,” she said. “It’s fairly unobtrusive, so I’m OK with it.” |