By Michael Castro

What are they meant for?
The school ID’s are universally regarded as a big pain. They were meant to be able to prove that you belong in this school and us students are meant to show them while we are going into the school to prove we belong here. We are also meant to carry them around our necks to once again prove we belong in this school if the security guards look at us.

Why?
PHS students know that there are always other students from other schools sneaking in to be with their friends or lovers.

Unsurprisingly, this is dangerous because from the moment you enter the building to the moment you leave, the school is responsible for you so if people are able to sneak in is not a good look for the school and if the student is missing from the other school they would be the one to blame.

It seems that this is happening more often recently, and because of that the school had to enforce the use of ID’s which caused everyone to start taking new photos and getting their new ID.

Are they useless?
For the ID’s to work, the student body needs to buy into the program. That means that we all need to get the updated ID and then wear it every day and every period during the day. For them to work we need to use them.

However, students are pushing back because they just do not want to wear them. Either they do not like the picture, or just do not like being told to wear them. These seem to be the first students who would complain if they were put in a dangerous situation that compromises their safety.

It is an impossibility for the staff (teachers, administrators, security guards and SRO’s) to monitor your ID constantly. Students can make this job easier if they just wear them.
You can ask anyone if they have been asked for their ID and there is no one that will say they have, the school is trying to do a reasonable by making the ID’s available so that we can all be a little safer. It makes their job a little easier because they can see who belongs here and who does not. So we must do our part and follow a simple rule for the purpose of all of us being safer.

What could be done?
There are some things that might be a compromise to help students wear their ID’s and make the job of those who need to check them a little easier too. It is a thing that we all need to do to make the system work, so something must be done to ensure the safety of everyone who works and learns at PHS.

One solution might be to have ID scanners outside the school and have it so the student must swipe to enter, or to enter the class it needs the ID which will check if you actually belong in that class, also using the ID to get lunch you would need it to be scanned. This is probably a little expensive, and it will certainly be a pain for everyone involved but it will totally ensure that everyone in the building belongs in the building.

Sure there are easy ways that this can be changed or enhanced but those ideas are certainly better than having the ID’s around the neck for no reason. So by using it to get in the building and also to get something to eat, this would make sure that no one could get in or stay long without an ID.

Another solution I heard from a student who wants to remain anonymous is to just not let anyone in the building without their ID. No ID just go home? Many students would take that as an opportunity to miss a day of school, and the administration and the teachers are not going to be good with like 70 percent of the students absent in one day. Actually, no school would be good with that.

The best and easiest system then is that for us to be one of the best school districts in New Jersey, that we all need to do our part and just wear the ID. I am going to have mine, you need to have yours.