By STACEY PLAISANCE / L’Observateur / March 13, 1999

LUTCHER – The St. James Parish School Board may abolish or alter itsidentification card policy for elementary school students due to complaints from parents and teachers of small children.

The ID cards are required to be worn by all students, faculty and administrative personnel in the public school system but were labeled a nuisance by some board members at Tuesday’s meeting in the School Board Office.

Board Vice President Charles Nailor said the cards create disturbances in the classroom and are often damaged, lost, forgotten and misused by young children. Situations from other state school systems indicate that thecards have been used by strangers to lure young children in kidnappings, Nailor added.

“People have called young children out by name from school playgrounds, and a young child doesn’t realize that this person doesn’t really know them, that it is a stranger who read their name tag,” Nailor said.

The cards were instituted by Interim Superintendent Walter Landry at the start of the year for safety purposes, making the identification of students and school personnel convenient. Nailor said the cards havefulfilled this purpose at the high school level and have made older students act more responsibly. However the tags may be unnecessary forgrades K-6, he said.

Board member Kathleen Becnel first introduced the ID card controversy at the Feb. 23 board meeting, but no action was taken at that time. Becnelsaid she disagrees with young children being sent to detention and punished for not wearing their ID tags.

It is a strain on parents and teachers who must ensure that young children wear the tags, and parents have to pay for replacements if the cards are lost or damaged, Becnel said.

Nailer made a motion Tuesday to eliminate the use of ID tags for grades K- 6, but board member George Nassar made a substitute motion to first discuss the issue with school principals and other administrators. Aftersome discussion, Nassar’s motion passed unanimously.

The board is also considering storing the ID tags in the classroom for grades K-6 rather than eliminating them, as Landry said the cards may be used in the future to scan lunch payments or library books.

Board President Kenneth Foret said a committee will be named immediately for further discussion and evaluation of the ID cards for grades K-6, and there will be a report at the board’s next regular meeting.

In other action, the board approved three out-of-state field trips to Nashville, Tenn., Houston, Texas, and Orlando, Fla. Landry said it is vitalthat school principals closely monitor the rules, guidelines and liability conditions that apply when planning long-distance field trips, as problems with security and liability have come up.

“The principals need to make sure these trips are being properly chaperoned and that all the rules are being enforced,” Landry said.

Of the trips approved Tuesday, the Lutcher High School Periquette Dance Team will travel to Nashville March 25-26 to compete in the U.S. DanceTeam Championship. In order to compete, each dance team must have firstqualified at either the local, regional or state levels. The Periquette DanceTeam has qualified three times since June 1998.

Also, 28 students, a physics teacher and bus driver from Lutcher High will travel to Houston, Texas for a physics program at Astroworld, and students from Vacherie Elementary and other schools will attend a program in Orlando April 5-9.

The board also: Announced that St. James is one of eight parishes in Louisiana having allschools accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Agreed to discuss a uniform policy for parish schools at its next regular meeting, scheduled for March 23 in Lutcher’s School Board Office.

Heard and viewed a vocal/sign language performance by the Gramercy Elementary Gleeful Gators Show Choir.

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