DISTRICT MULLING STUDENT BADGES.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Students and staff in the Antelope Valley Union High School District would be required to wear photo identification badges starting next school year, under a new policy being considered.

Wearing the ID badges would make it easier for staff in the 24,000-student district to readily identify outsiders who do not belong on campus.

``We have a lot of people who want to come onto our campuses, a lot of kids who go to a charter school and only go to school one day a week and want to be with friends at school, a lot of adults who want to come and not always to visit and say, `Hi,''' board president Donita Winn said.

She added: ``At almost every site we hear from staff, particularly security, that we have a lot of people who want to come on campus and don't belong there.''

High school trustees discussed the new policy at last Wednesday's meeting, and it will come back for approval at the next board meeting May 3.

Following a Lancaster High School decision to require its students to wear ID badges, the new districtwide requirement was recommended by a committee made up of parents, teachers, administrators and employees.

Students already are issued ID cards annually. Next year they would get a lanyard and a badge that would be specific to each school, having, for instance, the school's colors.

``We have an issue at a lot of campuses of nonstudents, non-high school students and other young people, who come on campus, kids going from one school to another campus,'' Assistant Superintendent Tim Azevedo said.

Outsiders caused problems when he was principal at Palmdale High School, he said.

``We would have 19-year-olds come on campus, because they are a boyfriend or girlfriend or looking to start a fight,'' Azevedo said. ``At lunchtime, you mix in with the crowd. With 2,000 kids at lunch it's not hard to blend in if you're a young person.''

``It's a safety issue. It's the same thing for adults. We want to know who employees are. We want parents to know who employees are,'' Azevedo said.

If a student forgets his badge, a temporary one would be issued for that day. Students would be charged for a lost badge, possibly the same $5 charge as for the current identification cards.

``I think some of them will squawk, but in the business world, if you work at Lockheed, you've got multiple IDs and you're not allowed on the grounds without it. It's just a little piece of reality as far as the work world,'' Azevedo said.

High school officials had contemplated a photo ID policy in 1998, but trustees back then thought such a policy was unenforceable and preferred looking at requiring school uniforms instead. Uniforms were never adopted districtwide.

Lancaster High officials started discussing student ID badges after a vice principal read about a school in Garden Grove that has such a program. Then a trustee mentioned that schools in Long Beach do it.

In the Long Beach Unified School District, the policy of requiring students to wear ID badges started at one school two years ago and now is in effect at all six high schools.

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com

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