Judge Issues Temporary Order Blocking Expulsion For Refusing To Wear RFID Tag

An anonymous reader writes with an update about the student refusing to wear an RFID badge in Texas. From the article: "A district court judge for Bexar County has granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) to ensure that Andrea Hernandez, a San Antonio high school student from John Jay High School's Science and Engineering Academy, can continue her studies pending an upcoming trial. The Northside Independent School District (NISD) in Texas recently informed the sophomore student that she would be suspended for refusing to wear a 'Smart' Student ID card embedded with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking chip."

Re:From the original article...

[wisnoskij]

Well I think at this point it is the principal of the matter.
I imagine she would of been perfectly fine wearing the normal ID badge, but after encountering so much opposition she has dug in her heels.

And she is right to. She is guaranteed a high-school public education and I doubt that it is legal to force things like this onto children and then expel them when they refuse. She is not disrupting other children's educations nor being violent of otherwise harmful, so the public education system does not have grounds for expulsion.

Re:What's the big deal?

[guitarMan666]

Because there isn't one. Tracking student attendance is commonplace and has been for many years. Tracking student location is also commonplace. This device simply automates it. Now if she can make a case based on her religion then good on her but the right to privacy is usually suspended while on campus. In my district, this took the form of a signed agreement form by parent and student agreeing that, while on school property and/or time, the Code of Conduct superseded legal rights. You can sign away legal rights in a contract. It isn't dehumanizing and many workplaces use RFID cards to restrict access to sensitive areas and to keep track of who is coming into the building. There is a lot of FUD surrounding this kind of thing and so long as these are limited to schools and workplaces I fail to see any problem.

Given how wacky my high school was

[NotSoHeavyD3]

Trying to keep tabs on us at all times, even considering it was over 20 years ago, I've got to side with the kid this time.(Especially given how much data they could get now with this tech. They'll probably abuse it.)

Simple Science

[Roger W Moore]

Given that the school claims to be a "Science and Engineering Academy" surely it isn't that hard for the students to figure out how to disable the RFID chips either by passive screening, hammer or quick zap in the microwave? That way the idiots in charge can go on in blissful ignorance and the students don't get tracked remotely but still have the ID card functionality.

Re:Simple Science

[Roger W Moore]

And get expelled for destruction of school property, great idea.

How does a passive EM shield destroy school property?