By: Michelle Ivette Rodriguez

Student IDs have been a requirement for students for several years. However, the enforcement of IDs has been inconsistent. Administration has now initiated a more rigorous way of enforcing the wearing of IDs to ensure student safety.

“The use of student and faculty ID cards is for student safety. (With the IDs) we are able to quickly identify people who do not belong at the school,” Principal Dora De La Rosa said.

Some, like World Geography and Freshmen Girls’ Basketball Coach Manny Piñon, agree some aspects of the policy, but disagree with other aspects of it.

“I think (students) can have whatever lanyard they want as long as they have their IDs,” Piñon said. He said that the policy will “work to get kids to conform (and wear their IDs because) when (students) start losing their free time that’s when they start all of a sudden falling into place because they don’t want to lose their lunch.”

This policy requires students who do not wear their IDs to join “the Lunch Bunch.”

“Students who are not in compliance forfeit their lunch for a cafeteria sack lunch. This (detention) is for the entire lunch time will the detention (for tardies) is only part of lunch,” De La Rosa said. She said students are being “asked not to deface their IDs or lanyards.”

Piñon, however, does not think the “Lunch Bunch” detention will entirely solve the ID problem, but does not know of any solution that will.

Junior Christian Gamboa completely disagrees with the policy saying that “(administration tells students they) need to wear…IDs…but shouldn’t (the) teachers we have already know who we are?” Futhermore, Gamboa sees the policy as “unfair” because, in his opinion, it is not right for a student who forgets his/her ID for one day to be punished.

He suggests that a better solution to the problem is to “tell (students) they have to have their IDs with them, but it shouldn’t be mandated for them to wear them.”

Others, like junior Stephanie Chavez, don’t care for the IDs or lanyards. Chavez said that a better solution to the problem would be to simply wear “name tags” instead of the “itchy…lanyard.”

However, some students don’t mind the new ID policy. Junior Carmen Kerstiens said that wearing the IDs is “good not only because it’s for the safety of the students (but it) helps us acquire a good habit” for students’ future professional lives.

Despite the good aspects of the policy, Kerstiens sees the policy – particularly the punishment as “too severe” and suggests that a more lenient punishment would be a better solution.

“I feel there should be stages of punishment like a short lunch detention and then if the student continues to not have (his/her) ID, then (he/she) should receive the whole lunch detention,” she said.

Administration will do walk throughs to ensure students are wearing their IDs and are in compliance to school policy. The “Lunch Bunch” will held be in the Tartan Theatre as well as in different classrooms. Teachers can volunteer and be paid to supervise the detention. The policy went into effect Thursday March 1.