The GDS security team has begun enforcing a stricter student ID policy, requiring students to display their IDs when entering campus. The policy, which took effect at the end of September, aims to ensure that students always carry identification with them during the school day.
In practice, students report little change. Four of five students interviewed by the Bit in October said they either avoid carrying their IDs or have found ways to bypass the policy, such as relying on friends to open doors. Although the administration initially promised that every student would receive a lanyard to display their ID, none of the five students interviewed in October had received one.
“They tell you to have your ID more, but no one actually does it. Nothing has actually changed this year,” sophomore Erica Piper said.
In previous years, students were expected to carry their IDs on them, although the rule was not strictly enforced.
“What’s different this year than in other years is that we require the IDs to be on you. You have to be a little bit more visible with the IDs,” said security staff member Tony Harris. “All the students have been given a lanyard; if not, they will be given one that they will wear around their necks so we can automatically see that that’s a student.”
“I do not think we will have to wear lanyards because GDS has always been about student empowerment, independence and freedom,” senior Alex Bhatia said.
“I have not been given a lanyard, and I do not have one,” junior Nico Abbate said.
During a high school assembly on Sept. 9, Director of Security Shelley Harris announced that the student ID policy would start being enforced by the end of September. She explained that the student ID policy aims to ensure that students can access the high school building and have identification on them off campus.
When asked how the security team will approach the new policy Tony Harris said that when they see groups of students, “We’ll wait and look to see if somebody actually has their ID because if you just constantly let them in they never learn to use their IDs.”
“I have not noticed any enforcement of this rule. Nobody has locked the doors on me if I don’t have my ID,” said Abbate.
Senior Beck Holtzman was recently locked out of the building after a community time trip to Coffee Nature. Holtzman said none of his friends with him had their IDs, so he just waited for another friend inside the building to come open the door for him.
Eight of the 13 students interviewed by the Bit said that they avoid the policy by going off campus with friends who carry their ID with them or by asking friends who are on campus to come and open the door.
“It’s not very realistic to enforce it because you can’t keep students locked out of the school for the entire day,” junior Nakeyia Brunson said.
“They say you have to have your ID showing, but literally no one does,” said junior Georgia Kaufman. “Lockouts just happen occasionally.”
Four of the five students interviewed in October said that lockouts are inconsistent.
“If you don’t have your ID, sometimes they [security] won’t open the doors for you,” Kaufman added. “It depends on who’s sitting at the desk.”
“I lost my second ID at the beginning of the year, so I don’t have an ID, and I haven’t had one all year, and I’ve never been locked out,” sophomore Ahren Sidhu added.