This year in Hawthorne High School, students no longer have to wear ID lanyards in the building because  new security features such as in-school security guards and security cameras make a safe enviornment for all students.

With these changes in place, the administration feels it has a good understanding of who HHS  students are and so requiring them to wear an ID at all times is not necessary. According to Vice Principal, Dario Sforza, the administration believes that wearing lanyards was not entirely beneficial for the students.  In some cases, the IDs hurt students because when students forgot the lanyard, they had to go to the office to get ID stickers, which took away from class time.

The school has not eliminated student IDs completely, however. Students are still required to carry their photo ID cards with them at all times. If a student is called down to the office, the principal or vice principal might ask to see the student ID. Students should always be prepared because if they are caught without their ID, they will pay a consequence at the discretion of the administrator.

The new IDs are going to bring many more changes within Hawthorne High School. In the near future, students will be given their new IDs that will have barcodes on them. These barcoded cards will work like debit cards when preloaded with money and will be used to buy lunch with just a swipe of the card. This will make the lunch lines go faster because instead of having the cashier count money and make change, they can just swipe the ID cards. Sforza said that swiping an ID card is estimated to take about 8 seconds per student, decreasing the length of the lines dramatically. The cards will also be used to  check out books from the Library Media Center.

Sforza believes that “the new ID policy will allow for increased academic instruction in the classroom, which will lead to an increased academic accomplishment.”