In August 2024, FBISD announced that in the upcoming school years, IDs would be required for students and staff. This is a significant change that impacts students on their academic life. The student body is divided on whether or not this new rule is helpful or if it creates more problems than it solves. 

In previous years, FBISD implemented similar rules. In both 2022 and 2023, students were issued IDs, but they were not required to wear them and the cards were rarely used. Now, however, they are used for buying lunches, getting on and off of the buses, and affect attendance and tardies.

“I don’t want to be worried about my safety at school because it’s supposed to be a safe place and with events that have happened recently in the education system I feel like it’s not a safe place for students, teachers and anyone else,” freshman Jamey Johnson said.

With school violence increasing across the nation, many people believe that the district is not secure enough and that things need to change if the district wants to protect the students. The start of these changes was the implementation of IDs for not just staff, but for students too.  While some students think the IDs are helpful for the schools safety, others see more problems with their efficiency.

“I think to some extent IDs help with safety [because] you can discern whether a person is a student by looking for an ID,” senior Sabrina Rakhmatova said. “But, this doesn’t take away from the fact that they can be stolen and then used by others to sneak into the school.” 

 A junior student described that “most teachers check daily” if students have the IDs, however, towards the end of the day, “less staff check for them”. For the bus system, a sophomore student said that it “rarely works properly” and causes “unnecessary stress” for the students and drivers alike.

Despite the hassle, the IDs are here to stay.