WPUSD addresses concerns about digital student ID cards for high school students

The Western Placer Unified School Board discussed concerns from dozens of parents about the new digital student identification cards for Lincoln High School and Twelve Bridges High School students for the new school year on Tuesday. Using the identification cards was approved by the school board toward the end of the 2021/2022 school year, according to Western Placer Unified School District marketing and communications coordinator Emma Oehler. The Western Placer Unified School District contracts with Bill Smith Photography to take all the students' school photos and help create the student identification cards. "Part of the service that is provided from the photographer is digital ID," said Superintendent Kerry Callahan during Tuesday's meeting. "His (Smith's) partnership for digital ID is with High5 ID." According to High5 ID's website, "High5 ID is a suite of solutions designed to meet and exceed CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines for keeping schools open safely." Through High5's digital identification cards, teachers and staff can track students, visitors and athletes on and off campus with cloud-based solutions that work via any smart device with a camera. "It (High5) literally provides students with a digital ID versus a hardcopy," Callahan added. In order to provide the digital identification cards, according to Callahan, student directory information was released to the district, which she said was not a violation of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. "If parents want their students to opt out of directory information being shared, whether it's with military recruiters, whether it's with colleges, whether it's for photo release, then they can opt out annually as part of High5," Callahan said. Callahan defined "directory information" as a student's email, name, grade and parent or guardian contact information. Lincoln business owner Matthew Oliver spoke on this matter at Tuesday's meeting. "You look up this app online, it says it easily tracks students, visitors, athletes on campus and off, and it works with any smart device," Oliver said. " I think that's stripping their (students) rights and taking away their liberties, by being able to track them everywhere they go. That's not the right way to do it." Benefits of the digital identification cards that the board discussed included students not losing or misplacing their physical cards, passes for school dances and being able to properly monitor off campus lunch privileges. "It was shocking to me, as a principal, how many kids walked off campus and we couldn't be sure that they were supposed to be walking on campus," Lincoln High School Principal Jen Hladun spoke during public comment on Tuesday's meeting. "We needed a system where we could tell whether or not students were eligible to leave campus for lunch." The board also discussed how digital identification cards would help keep track of students during emergencies, such as lockdowns. During a lockdown, rather than referencing a stack of papers, the High5 digital identification card can instantly tell teachers and staff who is and who isn't on campus. Callahan addressed another concern that a student's address and phone number would not be listed on the digital identification cards in order to protect the student. "My goal and hope is that we can have lots of kids on digital IDs because it will make things faster and easier for everybody and it's safe," Hladun added to the Board and to the public during Tuesday's meeting. "If somebody asks for a print ID, we're not going to say no to that. It's not a big deal. We're just trying to make this happen." In other news During Tuesday's board meeting, Western Placer Unified School District Superintendent Kerry Callahan gave an update on staffing and student enrollment among the schools. According to Callahan, student enrollment has increased approximately 7½ percent from last year. Specifically, this increase comes from the Twelve Bridges and Foskett Ranch neighborhoods as those regions are experiencing a growth in housing developments. Based on current enrollment at all three Twelve Bridges schools, Callahan said, those schools in total are receiving 300 or more students than staff and the district anticipated. In addition, Callahan informed the board that both Lincoln High and Twelve Bridges High will have at least six exchange students spending the year in Lincoln from countries such as Spain, Belgium, France and Germany. With an increase in student enrollment, like many other districts nationwide, the Western Placer Unified School District is struggling to increase teachers and staff. "It's been tough and we are doing better than a lot of districts because we are a place where people want to work," Callahan said in regard to the district's teacher shortage. "But unfortunately, if you've already signed a contract with another district, they're not letting you out and that could impact your credentials." According to Callahan, the Western Placer Unified School District has been working to combat the shortage in teachers since January, as well as hiring more staff to support teachers. The recent increase in student enrollment will have an impact on all teachers and support staff, according to Callahan. "All of our teaching positions are filled. It's just that we're just having some issues with the support staff," Callahan added. "And then there's the issue of if more and more kids show, we don't necessarily have a pool of teachers to hire from. That's gonna be tough but we're ready."