Robbinsdale students now required to wear ID badges

When students return to school next month, some will be sporting more than the latest fashions -- in the Robbinsdale School District, their back-to-school wardrobes will include ID badges.

Robbinsdale school board members adopted the policy earlier this summer. The suburban district's actions come in the wake of thefts, fights and other disturbances in recent years at Robbinsdale Cooper, in New Hope, and intruder incidents at Robbinsdale Armstrong, in Plymouth.

Robbinsdale's new policy makes it the exception among west-metro districts, including Eden Prairie, Hopkins, Osseo and Wayzata. But it is in step with its big-city neighbor: in the Minneapolis School District, all high school students wear ID badges.

"It's one more measure that we thought was easy enough to implement" to enhance security, Robbinsdale Assistant Superintendent Gayle Walkowiak said.

Anyone not wearing an ID may be stopped by school employees who spot them once they enter the building.

The district's middle school students have worn ID badges on lanyards around their necks for years.

That was mainly to help school staff in getting to know the students and to have the IDs readily available when the students need them -- for lunch, for example.

Walkowiak said high school students already have IDs to check out library books, enter school dances and for other school-related events.

"It sets up a sense of belonging that allows you to get to know students faster," she said.

School officials said the policy is similar to those at local workplaces. District employees are already required to wear badges and other adults also must check in at schools' main offices and verify their identity when they visit district schools.

Robbinsdale School District spokesman Jeff Dehler said students without IDs will receive new badges or replacements next month. The district has not developed guidelines for students who lose or don't wear them, school officials said.

"We'll break people in slowly, but eventually it'll be a requirement that you wear it," he said.

Ronald Stephens, the executive director of the California-based National School Safety Center, said his organization doesn't have research that indicates ID badges help discourage disturbances, but he said they're appropriate for middle and high schools.

"The most positive environmental aspect they provide is that school officials immediately know who belongs on campus and who doesn't," Stephens said. "An outside intruder feels exceptionally exposed in such an environment."

He said in recent years, some schools have put chips or barcodes on the badges and use them to take attendance. But Stephens also said parents and students should be involved in the process of deciding how the badges are used and know the rationale behind the decisions.

Armstrong parent Jill Kaufman, vice president of the high school's parent association, said parents she's spoken to this summer support the idea. She said parents hope the administration will develop additional ways to connect the cards to other activities as an incentive for students to carry them.

"I didn't see anyone that was concerned about it," Kaufman said. "I got the sense this is a reasonable move for the administration."

But not everyone is certain the badges will be embraced.

"I've heard kids say it's a joke," Robbinsdale Armstrong senior Justin Ancier said. "But personally, if it's for safety, it's not a big deal."

Plymouth Police Department Sgt. Jeff Swiatkiewicz said his department didn't play a role in the board's decision, but he supports the idea.

"To be frank, Armstrong has a history of students who don't belong in the building, and they've taken steps to address that," Swiatkiewicz said. He supervises the department's five school resource officers in the Robbinsdale and Wayzata school districts.

"You're dealing with a population of more than 2,500 students and a transfer bus site," he said. "It becomes difficult to know who's who with that many students."

Walkowiak said students board buses at Robbinsdale Armstrong and Robbinsdale Cooper high schools to go to special programs, including the district's English language learner program, that aren't offered in their building. She said the district plans to phase out the transfer bus program during the 2008-09 school year.

Hopkins High School Principal Willie Jett said students there have IDs but aren't required to wear them in the building. But he said that could change in the future.

"Has it come up here? Yes," Jett said. "It's one [issue] that's being discussed all around the metro area."

Jett joined Hopkins last year but previously worked in the Osseo, Minneapolis and Anoka Hennepin school districts. He worked with Robbinsdale Cooper's new principal, Mike Favor, during his time in Minneapolis.

But other metro-area schools, including Eden Prairie, Osseo and Wayzata, said they're not considering a similar policy.

"From an administrative point of view it's a nightmare," said Jim Anderson, Eden Prairie School District's director of safety and facilities. "If 10 percent of them forget out of 3,200 students, you could have a big line in the office."

Three years ago, Eden Prairie High School was put on lockdown after a 21-year-old man with a knife entered the building one morning. At the time, the district considered requiring students to wear the badges, but Anderson said everyone wondered how to hold students accountable if they lost them. Now students are required to have badges in their possession and can't wear hats in the school.

Anderson said every community has different issues, however, and "if there's a threat out, then maybe you have to say 'show your ID.' "

Patrice Relerford • 612-673-4395 • prelerford@startribune.com