ID tags seem to be the wave of the future for school employees
because of increasing security concerns.
Administrators and some staff at the Hollister School and San
Benito High School districts began wearing ID or security tags
recently to make sure they are easily identified.
ID tags seem to be the wave of the future for school employees because of increasing security concerns.
Administrators and some staff at the Hollister School and San Benito High School districts began wearing ID or security tags recently to make sure they are easily identified.
“Our society is such now that we want to be very careful about who’s coming on campus,” said Peter Gutierrez, assistant superintendent at the HSD. “Not all the school staff know who we (district office employees) are.”
The HSD employees starting wearing the tags last school year. Tags include the district logo, school year and the person’s name and photo. The intention is for every school’s staff to wear the tags in the future.
Even though schools are open to community members, all visitors have to check in at the office.
“Schools belong to the community, but the way society is right now, we do have to implement security measures,” Gutierrez said. “I’d like to go back two decades when we didn’t have to do this …”
SBHSD administrators, guest teachers (substitutes) and student aides wear the security tags. They contain the person’s photo and position, the school year, and the name of the school. Also, on the back of the tag is the person’s printed name and signature to stop others from falsely signing the person’s name.
SBHSD staff started wearing the tags this school year. Because of the nature of SBHS’s campus, maintaining safety and security can be challenging, Superintendent Jean Burns Slater said.
“We’re a large and very open campus. We have lots of people coming on campus,” she said. “The campus is right on public streets.”
Requiring staff to wear the tags allows the school’s 10 campus supervisors to focus on watching the campus rather than stopping people and asking why they’re there.
Employees at the County Office of Education also wear security tags.
