Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy DS MUST go on field trip

So, the child molesters are going to saunter into the classroom and start molesting kids right there in front of everyone? Or they'll just ask one of the kids to accompany them to the bathroom? Or maybe just lurk there, and no one will notice?

Seriously, this is a classic example of the wrong kind of caution. The greater threat in schools comes from employees of the school, background checks or not (here's a story from the Washington Post). My neighbor has worked in the county superior court for 30+ years. After a local math teacher was arrested 9 months ago, she told us that this problem is a lot more common than people like to think it is. I remember no less than 4 teachers/coaches in my high school who were fired for lewd behavior with students (in a five-year-period), and a fifth one made lewd comments constantly.

But I guess that making parents show driver's licences makes people feel better, so that's what we do.

Sorry, but I don't see how any adult can function without some sort of photo ID. When my kids renewed their p-a-s-s-p-o-r-t-s it took less than two weeks to receive the new ones. Not a big deal. Heck, the kids need photo ID to take the SAT or ACT now, so might as well get an ID.

And if the school (or any other place) is going to require photo ID for one person, they really need to require it for all. You don't know who might be a danger to others, which kid has a non-custodial parent that requires supervised visits, etc. There was one parent that DH and I couldn't understand why he was hesitant to help with the rec sports. Such a nice guy, our kids are friends with his kids, our kids have been over to his home for birthday parties, etc. Then we see his photo as the lead story on the local evening news (and we live in a major metropolitan area).

Everyone here accepts that we don't know the allergies or medical conditions of other folks...why can't we accept that we don't know the criminal background of other folks?

School security in the US is not about child molestation, is it now, people. It's about shootings. We have child molestation here too, but not schools where parents have to show id.

I didn't say that. My point was the one poster was offended that they had to show ID at the door and didn't need to because their kid was in a classroom. I don't see how their can be a wrong kind of caution. You may be right about the greater threat from within the school but that wasn't what was being discussed. The secretary at my daughter's school office always ID my wife when she came to the office even though her daughter and mine were the same homeroom classroom and did Girl Scouts together.

Most kidnappings are committed by non-custodial parents, and schools are an easy place to conduct such a kidnapping. So yes, scanning drivers' licenses at school does serve a purpose, even if it doesn't apply to your child.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=91365&page=1&singlePage=true

I understand that most people have IDs, but we should be allowed to walk down the street without needing to produce ID-- yet in our area, police routinely ask for ID. I rarely carry ID when not driving.

Photo id is NOT free here. Haven't checked lately, but 20 years ago, it was 25.00.

I won't even touch on immigration, natural disaster, and theft-- all reasons for not having an ID or having an id that reveals inaccuracies. With an id, people can find out lots of stuff that invades privacy. I do not give out my ssn and that number is on driver's licenses. I don't want my school having that info, or the secretary at the school. Identity is precious, something to be protected. I don't give out info without a legit reason.

Usually when I visit school, I walk. One time when I tried to vote at the school, they asked for my id. I almost didn't vote til a supervisor came and asked me for more info, then allowed me to vote.

Count me on the side of not wanting all my info out there to anyone who cares to see it. I have no problem with prescreening, and no problem with flashing the license. But I don't want people who I don't know, writing down my info, taking pictures of my license, etc. Has everyone in that office been screened? (especially this applies to medical facilities!--you can verify who I am and take what you need to submit a claim but you do NOT need my infant's ssn).

Sort of. Abuse in schools is a huge problem. Yes, the locked doors and the lockdown drills are about the shootings, but again, it's the wrong kind of caution. Very sadly, we've been shown that locked doors don't stop people with guns, just like asking parents to show ID (especially to people who know them) won't stop school employees from molesting kids.

TBH, all this reminds me of the bomb drills kids had to do in the 1950s and 1960s. Like hiding under your desk was going to provide meaningful protection from an H-bomb. Those drills served to scare people, just like today's so-called necessary cautionary measures scare people and keep them in a frenzy about one thing while the root problems are ignored.

It's about where you want people to focus their attention, not meaningful security.

Val...agreed

When the government provides valuable benefits, it needs to verify that recipients are legitimate. To send your child to a neighborhood public school, you need to prove that your child is age-eligible and that he or she lives in the school district. Sometimes schools investigate whether a child lives where his parents say he does. That's an invasion of privacy, but how do you avoid it? I know of at least one child who is illegally attending a school one of our children attends. The problem is not theoretical. Free and reduced price student lunches will require parental financial disclosure. When your children apply to college, applying for financial aid means dealing with the dreaded FAFSA form. The cost of hassling people and invading their privacy needs to be weighed against the cost to taxpayers of fraud.

Now our district has some sort of policy where classroom doors are supposed to be closed and locked, but as a result the teachers just feel free to scream at the kids and carry on, since no one can hear it anymore. Another mom asked if her DD could be subject accelerated for math and the principal used the excuse that "it wouldn't be safe for her to walk down the hallway alone and it's against policy". Gimme a break! I do understand verifying who people are before allowing them to roam the hallways, and locking back doors during school hours so people can't sneak in, but it can be taken too far. If they were really worried about the kids' safety they would watch videos of the doors so that 5-6 year old kids can't continue to sneak out the way they have been. But of course, the school board or paper pushers from the district aren't aware of the fact that kids are leaving the school grounds or getting lost because that type of thing doesn't make the news and is never reported. Dh was supposed to pick up an extra child from school and the kid left the school through the wrong door and actually walked to our house by himself (through a neighborhood unfamiliar to him) while Dh was at the school trying to find him. We're talking about a 6 year old. Ultimately a neighbor recognized him and picked him up and drove him back to the school and found Dh. Of course, no one at the school seemed too concerned that that happened, but they are worried about locking doors and asking for IDs, even if they already know the person.