SCSD2 implements new lanyard policy

Jaiden Herald | Co-Editor-in-Chief

On Jan. 30, during advisory, teachers handed out purple SHS student lanyards and a student ID to all students. Students assembled their IDs and began the newly enacted policy. Advisory teachers informed all students of the new school policy.

The high school was the final school in the district to implement the use of student IDs.

“The lanyards are a district wide initiative. The process started with the elementary schools, then the middle and finally the high school,” Principal Chris Routt said.

All students are mandated to wear their lanyard and badge on the school campus during school hours. Those found in violation of the newly enacted policy will be disciplined in accordance with the dress code policy.

The lanyards were implemented across the district in hopes of increasing safety precautions and efficiency.

“Two fold reason (for the lanyards): one is for student safety with the picture ID and visible lanyard, and, secondly, for efficiency’s sake with lunches, media center checkouts and student printing,” Superintendent Dr. Marc Slaton said.

According to Routt, the lanyards also act in accordance with SHS core values of worth, safety and growth.

“The lanyards will improve campus safety. We do our best to protect our kids while they are here. With 800 kids, a lanyard and badge give us another layer of identifying staff and students for safety reasons,” Routt said.

Many SHS students were left with questions and concerns after receiving lanyards during advisory.

“I felt everyone overacted about the lanyards. In reality, it isn’t that big of a deal,

but I also understand people’s reactions because several kids were questioning why they couldn’t wear their own lanyards and how they would eat lunch if they didn’t have their ID,” Megan Hardin (12) said.

Students will still receive breakfast or lunch should they not have their lanyards.

“There is a secondary method for those situations that will be handled by the cafeteria staff,” Slaton said.

Students are not allowed to wear their own lanyards, but they can personalize lanyards with pins or buttons as long as they are used in accordance with the policy.

“We are not permitting students to wear their own lanyards. The purple lanyard is another layer of student/staff identification,” Routt said.

According to Assistant Principal Jeff Cox, there are further uses for the lanyard in the works. Slaton agreed and said that the district is working to explore other uses.

“There are some conversations about utilizing [lanyards] on bus routes to have students scan on and off the bus [so] in the event that there is a bus incident we know exactly which students were involved. We will likely run a pilot of that with our bus software soon. Additionally, we’ve briefly discussed having students bring their IDs and scan in for games or other activities. This again would allow us to know who is there in the event of an issue,” Slaton said.