School security: ID scans to begin next week

On Tuesday, Principal Taren Nance sent an email to students and staff stating that “In the coming weeks, we will be implementing digital scanning/signage; it is imperative that you have a student/staff ID at all times.”

Since the beginning of school, vague announcements about needing a student ID have circulated. Now, there is a plan in place.

Starting next week, students will need to scan their ID to leave the building during lunch. They will also need to scan to reenter. This will be a test-run of increased security, with the hopes of expanding it to the start and end of the school day.

With recent violence in the larger Champaign-Urbana community, school security has been an issue on the forefront of peoples’ minds. Both Champaign high schools have added metal detectors, and Urbana is focusing on student identification.

This is sure to cause some controversy with the student body, but staff member Emily Carter believes the bolstered security is a positive measure for the school to take. “When I was a freshman in high school, I was required to wear my ID on lanyard. I didn’t feel that it was a violation of my privacy at the time. As a school, one of our main priorities is keeping students safe. If wearing IDs and making sure that our students have identification makes us feel safer and helps with the security of our building, then I think we are doing our job.”