School’s tracking tags for children causes outrage

Lisa Leff, Sutter

The badges, introduced at Brittan Elementary School on January 18, rely on the same radio and scanner technology that companies use to track livestock and product inventory. Each child must wear identification cards with their picture, name and grade, and a wireless transmitter that beams their ID number to a teacher’s handheld computer when the child passes under an antenna above a classroom door.

While similar devices are being tested at schools in Japan so parents can know when their children arrive and leave, Brittan appears to be the first US school to embrace such a system.