ID policy revised

The Blair administration implemented a new ID policy this year that color-codes IDs by academy and increases punishments for students who continually do not wear their IDs. The change was the first major revision to the ID policy since the new Blair building opened nine years ago.

The switch to color-coded IDs was part of a larger effort to reorganize the student body, according to Assistant Principal Linda Wanner. The color-coding system was created so students could easily identify others in their academy, intended to foster a greater sense of community. "You want students to feel like part of a group," she said.

Previously, Blair students were organized by graduating class, but over the past three years, the administration has phased in an academies program intended to group students by their shared interests — a change that administrators hope will foster greater educational confluence from year to year. The 2006-2007 school year marked the first school-wide effort to incorporate the academies into all levels of instruction.

The ID colors are brown for the Communications Arts Program (CAP), blue for the Entrepreneurship Academy, yellow for students in the first two levels of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), orange for the Human Service Professions Academy, purple for the International Studies Academy, white for the Magnet Program, red for the Ninth Grade Academy, green for the Media Literacy, maroon for the Science, Math and Technology Academy and black for seniors not in an academy.

The color-coded IDs are part of a more comprehensive policy designed to encourage students to wear their IDs without making them pay the MCPS-mandated $5 replacement fee. "We have needy students, so for us to say that they owed $80 for IDs [is wrong because] some don't have $80," said Wanner. "We all agreed we had to stop that."

Finalized by administrators on Sept. 29 and implemented on Oct. 3, the new ID policy allows students to receive two free temporary IDs per quarter but sets more severe disciplinary punishments for students who continually forget their IDs.

Under the new policy, if students enter the school building without an ID, they will be allowed to buy a new one from the attendance office before 7:25 a.m. and during lunch. In first block, security guards will make rounds and check every classroom to make sure students have IDs. If they do not, students will be issued a maximum of two temporary IDs per quarter. An automated phone call will then be issued to students to warn them to replace their ID. However, if a student forgets his or her ID the third time, he or she will receive after-school detention. The fourth offense will prompt a parent-administrator conference and the fifth an in-school suspension. This cycle will reset every quarter.

Anytime a student is caught without his or her ID during the school day, he or she will receive Saturday detention. A repeated offense will result in an in-school suspension.

According to Wanner, the new policy is an improvement. "What's more harsh, making people pay $300 for IDs, which is ridiculous, or giving them detention, where they might realize that there are consequences in life?" said Wanner.

The new disciplinary policy is not yet set in stone and is still pending final approval from the PTSA. A decision will be reached in a PTSA meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 17.

Color differentiation

The shift to academies reflects the belief that students benefit from more intimate learning communities, according to Hysen. "The design of the IDs was made to symbolize a new start," he said.

But the administration's decision to color-code IDs has sparked controversy and charges of de facto segregation. Parents and students alike have protested that the IDs separate students into divisions and label them unfairly. Senior Vince Agard, a Magnet student, said that the new color-coding scheme was a "divisive system that promotes an atmosphere of elitism."

A hailstorm of posts on the PTSA list-serv has also criticized the administration for forcing students to wear the varicolored IDs. Blair parent Mairi Rothman wrote, "What we have is this great diverse school, and they're trying to sort [students] all into homogeneous groups so that we have less and less diversity."

Wanner explained that the decision to color-code IDs was not intended to segregate students but to integrate them. Assistant Principal Andrew Coleman agreed, comparing the academies at Blair with choosing a major in a university. "It's a chance for students to fulfill the needs and desires [they] have and to be exposed to areas they might want to look at later as they prepare for the future," he said. "That's not segregation."

PTSA Co-President Deborah Stoll stressed her support for the smaller learning communities initiative as well. "By the time they're seniors, they already know their communities, but as younger students, it's important to have smaller learning communities to establish a sense of identity," she said.

Hysen said that the general community feedback to the SGA about the IDs was "somewhat negative, but not overwhelmingly so."

Room for improvement

The delay in the change from the old to the new ID system was a result of organizational problems involving the transition to a new vendor responsible for printing the IDs. Discrepancies between the school's database and Lifetouch Studios' database caused the original student IDs to be printed with inaccurate information, including incorrect bar codes, emergency codes and library codes, according to business manager James Funk.

Although they agree with the new policy, both Stoll and Hysen think the administration could have mitigated negative community response by publicizing their reasons for changing the ID policy and preparing students and parents for the change. "There was no explanation," Hysen said. "Students just got an ID with an [arbitrary] color and were told to wear the color."

An ongoing process

Although it was involved with creating most of the new policy, the SGA does not endorse the severity of the punishment for students caught without an ID later in the day. Nonetheless, Hysen believes that the new policy has its benefits. "It's a lot better for people who forget [their IDs] once or twice, but it's a lot worse for people who forget it all the time," he said.

If the administration feels that the new policy is ineffective in encouraging students to wear their IDs, they will leave it open to discussion, according to Hysen.

"For the vast majority of people, it's going to be better," he said. "The administration strongly believes that the culture of wearing IDs will shift, but if it doesn't happen, [the SGA] is going to continue to try to change it.

Blair's ID policy was originally implemented in 1997 as a result of security concerns caused by its relocation to a major intersection.

The changes to the ID policy were initially accompanied by discussions of installing ID scanners at Blair's main entrances to keep track of student traffic during school hours.

According to business manager James Funk, a main proponent of the scanners, necessary security measures are essential to identify and control the population within the building. "We have a responsibility to students and staff to provide as safe an environment as possible," he said. "[The scanners are] to provide for the maximum benefit of the ID policy."

Funk said that the scanners will most likely not be installed this year because of student perceptions that the scanners are too drastic of a change.

But after three school shootings around the nation in less than a week, school safety remains a major issue, and Funk continues to push for the scanners' eventual installation. "You ask the parents of Columbine, and they'd wish they had more security," he said. "Nobody wants to do anything until something bad happens. The new ID process is insurance you hope you never have to use," he said.

Administrators will continue to discuss the implications of the ID policy as the school year progresses. "Nothing's finalized yet, but we're reevaluating things as we go," said Funk.