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.