A school in Texas, in the United Sates, of America, has been given the right to force its students to wear locator chips when they are on school property.

San Antonio’s Northside School District was given the right to expel Andrea Hernandez, 15, from Jay High School by US District Judge Orlando Garcia because she refused to wear the device – one of the school’s requirements.

The case is still making its way through federal courts, but that didn’t stop the judge from disallowing Hernandez her education at the school.

Gone will be the days of a sneaky cigarette, or even a shag in the bathroom at Jay High School.

Among those opposed to the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in this way is the American Civil Liberties Union. Said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst for the union:

We don’t want to see this kind of intrusive surveillance infrastructure gain inroads into our culture. We should not be teaching our children to accept such an intrusive surveillance technology.

Representatives for Hernandez said that the ruling violated the student’s constitutional right to privacy, and vowed to appeal.

Reported NBC:

The school district – the fourth-largest in Texas, with about 100 000 students – is not attempting to track or regulate students’ activities, or spy on them, district spokesman Pascual Gonzalez said. Northside is using the technology to locate students who are in the school building but not in the classroom when the morning bell rings, he said.

Texas law counts a student present for purposes of distributing state aid to education funds based on the number of pupils in the classroom at the start of the day. Northside said it was losing $1,7 million a year due to students loitering in the stairwells or chatting in the hallways.

Disclaimer: the software doesn’t work outside of the school premises and no data is being sold to any third party.

Hernandez has until later this month to accept wearing a tag, or go to another school where the tag is not a requirement.

[Source: NBC]