THS implements new ID system

Kara Graham and Zoey Huggins • September 21, 2023

Students can check in once they walk in the classroom using school.ai

You may walk down the hall and see a student wearing a blue and gold lanyard with a badge and wonder what it is. It is the new ID badge students at Tupelo High School will be wearing. Less than 10% of schools have implemented the ID policy according to the National Center for Education Statistics so Tupelo decided to get ahead of the game for their students.

“I came up with the idea and then I brought it to our admin team and our technology department. The reason behind the ID passes is twofold. It’s about safety and security,” THS principal, Melissa Thomas said.

The ID passes ensure that students are able to maximize their time in class. Teachers use an online program called school.ai to take attendance using the QR codes on the student’s badges.

“In my classroom, students come in and they scan their badges to record their attendance, which is going to be really helpful and will save a lot of class time since teachers won’t be having to manually take attendance every day,” English I teacher, Heather Mansall, said.

Students are getting their badges in ninth-grade (Kara )

Students like the reason behind the passes and enjoy the time-saving abilities the pass provides.

“I really like them. I feel like it’s a lot easier on teachers so that they can take attendance now, and other stuff like that. I feel like it’s a lot more efficient,” freshman, Alyssa Arnold, said.

Another important part of the badges is safety. These badges can be used to identify students in high-risk situations.

“If we should ever have a crisis, where let’s just say the fire department has to respond, or the local law enforcement has to respond, they can look and identify [the student] as a person who is indeed supposed to be on Tupelo High School’s campus,” Thomas said.

Students can use the ID badges for more than just attendance. It can be used to make lines go faster.

“So this same ID badge once the scanners are placed in the cafeteria, instead of having to input your number, which also slows down our line, you can scan it. Also in the media center, you will be able to scan and check out books,” Thomas said.

Students are required to wear their badges every day and have them at all times.

“It’s important to keep up with your ID badge. It’s important to protect it just like you do your Chromebook and all other devices that we issued to you from the school. So you protect it and should it become lost or, or taken or anything like that. You need to report that immediately,” Thomas said.

The Tupelo High School administration is working on getting every student a badge.

“We did get IDs for the majority of ninth graders from the company. However, there were some that weren’t there, [whether it be] they enrolled late or some other issue. They didn’t have one, so we had to make one,” ninth-grade principal Tyrone

Students in Sharin Chumley’s multimedia class are helping administrators make the badges to speed up the process.

“Ms. Chumley volunteered to get her class to help me and they set up the cameras. On Tuesday, we made [badges for] all the other students for ninth grade and they will get their badges once we have them printed,” ninth-grade principal, Tyrone Catledge, said.

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About the Contributors

Kara Graham, Associate Editor

Kara Graham is an editor for Wave Media. She has always had a passion for writing and often writes poems and reads in her spare time. She is the recipient of the MSPA Best of Show Lede, MSPA Best of Mississippi Feature Writing/Reporting, and MSPA Best of Mississippi Depth Reporting Winner. She is also an MSPA All-Mississippi Honoree. She had one of her articles published on the Best of SNO website. She is president of the journalism honor society Quill & Scroll. She participated in a virtual newsroom called Headliners of Summer where she was joined by writers from 16 states and 4 countries to write stories of local and national interest. You can access more of her work on the Headliners of Summer website. She hopes to major in journalism at the University of Mississippi. This is her second year writing for Wave Media

Zoey Huggins, Staff Member

Zoey Huggins is a junior at Tupelo High School and a returning student of Wave Media. Zoey enjoys spending time with family and friends outside of school. During school, she enjoys writing stories and taking photos at sports events for Wave Media. After high school, Zoey hopes to attend Stanford University to major in business and psychology.