Training our children for incarceration, another state implements GPS tracking of it's students.
Austin, TX - The new school year is bringing a brand new truancy program to the Austin school district that no one else in Central Texas has tried.
A combination of global positioning system technology and mentors will be used to try and keep students who have a history of skipping class out of court and in school.
With parent permission, as many as 1,700 students across eight high schools will be equipped with a GPS device that looks a lot like a cellphone. They will also each be teamed up with a mentor whom they have to check-in with using the device several times a day.
Austin high schools participating:
Akins HS
Crockett HS
Eastside Memorial HS
Lanier HS
LBJ Early College HS
McCallum HS
Travis HS
Reagan Early College HS
International HS
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/AISD-hopes-GPS-program-helps-attendance
Kids who skip school are tracked by GPS.
ANAHEIM – Frustrated by students habitually skipping class, police and school officials in Anaheim are turning to GPS tracking to ensure they come to class.
The Anaheim Union High School District is the first in California to test Global Positioning System technology as part of a six-week pilot program that began last week, officials said.
Seventh- and eighth-graders with four unexcused absences or more this school year are assigned to carry a handheld GPS device, about the size of a cell phone.
Each morning on schooldays, they get an automated phone call reminding them that they need to get to school on time.
Then, five times a day, they are required to enter a code that tracks their locations – as they leave for school, when they arrive at school, at lunchtime, when they leave school and at 8 p.m.
It has been well received in places like San Antonio and Baltimore. Where the GPS technology has been implemented, average attendance among the chronically truant jumped from 77 percent up to 95 percent during the six-week program.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/school-288730-students-program.html
Q. and A with Miller Sylvan, regional director of the firm helping with the GPS program, talked about tracking chronically truant students:
Q. Why don't you just attach the GPS devices to the students?
A. We don't want to criminalize the kids or have them wear any bracelet or something around their ankle that would stigmatize them. The students are frequently entering a code and interacting with the device, so we think it's the best way to let them carry it.
Q. Why is Anaheim the first in the state?
A. Anaheim already has a strong GRIP (Gang Reduction and Intervention Partnership) program that the truancy program can easily compliment. We've been talking to school districts in San Diego and Los Angeles also, but Anaheim is the first.
Q. Why do the students have to enter a code when it's a GPS device that could track them at any time?
A. We want the students to be interactive with the device and take steps to let us know where they are. That helps teach them the discipline they need to be responsible. It gets them thinking about their schedule.
Q. Who are the coaches who speak directly to the students?
A. We hire them from the community. They come from a range of backgrounds, including school counselors, church leaders and business leaders who have a passion for helping kids. We have them talk with the students, usually for about 10 minutes, three times a week so they can keep up with what's happening in the students' lives and provide real help to get them to class.
Q. What happens if students still don't come to class?
A. We will communicate with the attendance offices at the schools, who will follow protocols. Sometimes that means sending out a police officer to check on the student and make sure they get to class.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/students-288732-class-don.html