As campus security has continued to ramp up, CHS has tightened its policy regarding students who do not have their IDs. According to a StudentSquare email sent by Assistant Principal David Pickard, lunch detention will be assigned to a student every time they show up without a physical ID, starting February 2.
“It’s a consistent issue where everyday we’re having to stop and slow down lines to look up kids on five star, and it’s usually the same kids everyday who forget it,” said David Pickard, Assistant Principal of Safety, Facilities, and Athletics.
While students acknowledge that safety on campus is important, they stress that frequent ID use in the morning, at lunch, and for after school practices, means that it is bound to get misplaced.
“It’s not me being lazy, or not trying, I just misplace it and I think that happens to everyone,” said CHS senior Holden DiSante.
Campus supervisor Tatiana Garcia notes that the amount of students who arrive without their IDs–simply in the morning–can be a lot.
“I want to say anywhere between like 20 to 50 kids, at least in the front gate,” said Garcia.
This large crowd of students without IDs poses a lot of issues for the campus supervisors, as they have to search up each individual student in the system. This causes a traffic jam of students holding up the line of people trying to get to class on time.
Administrators are trying to devise a new system to be more efficient, but the plan is not fully worked out yet. As of right now, they will be making two separate lines, one for students who have their IDs, and the other for students without them.
“We already always search them up anyways, but now we’re gonna write down the names of students who don’t have their IDs,” said Garcia.
News of this policy has caused a ripple of frustration in the student body. Most students acknowledge that safety is important, but many are upset with this consequence.
“Having IDs helps make the school environment safe but we should find a compromise, like a three strike system, rather than just having lunch detention straight away,” said Siya Porwal, a CHS senior.
This consequence is a shock to many students, who have made it through their entire school lives without getting detention. Suddenly, with 5 months left of their K-12 education, they have a very real possibility of being in detention.
“I don’t think detention is ever a fair punishment for me. I’m not a detention student, I’m not someone who should be in detention,” said DiSante.
Students who realize they do not have their IDs before they enter the gate are not likely to want to turn themselves in and accept the detention.
“For example, one of my friends, she was like ‘oh, I forgot my ID, and I just turned around and went home because they wouldn’t let me on campus.’ It’s not incentivizing us to come to class,” said CHS senior Mia Friedlander.
There are only a few days remaining until the policy begins. Student ID replacements cost $5 at the student store, and free temporary IDs are available to everyone.
