Seventh-grade student Ella Crawley says it's important to know who is supposed to be at her school.
"Sometimes I'd be walking down the hall and I'd see this kid, and I had no idea who they were," said Crawley.
Even her peer Martrice Walls-Greene agreed.
"If we had like a new student, I really didn't know who they were until I went to go meet them and then looked at their schedule," said Walls-Greene.
In response to the need to know who and where students are, for the first time at the junior high level, Copperas Cove ISD has supplied each student with an identification card.
“We started this semester with student ID cards as another form of an added security measure for our campus as well as helping us out in a lot of different ways,” said Dr. Jimmy Shuck, principal at S.C. Lee Junior High School.
"It makes me feel safer at the school, so I know you belong at this school and you're not someone who's just walking around and feels like walking into a school," said Crawley.
Not only do the new ID cards tell staff who is supposed to be in the school, they also show them what grade someone's in, but their team number and the cards also function as a library card and meal card.
"It helps with the identification of students in ensuring students are in the right areas. Also, when we do fire drills depending on when a fire drill occurs, it allows for people or staff members that are on campus to be able to identify students to make sure we're able to get an accurate account and identify students that are present or if they're missing," said Shuck.
Students said it also gives them a sense of responsibility.
"well when you move up to high school everything's changing so much well it's kind of easier when you have something now and you can be more responsible with it," Crawley said.
If a student forgets their ID card, they are provided with a temporary replacement and if they lose their ID card, they can purchase a new one for two dollars.
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