Student, Staff, Faculty ID Cards

Among the list of strategies promoted by the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) is one entitled, Student, Staff and Visitor ID Cards. The council says that “Identification cards for students, faculty, staff and visitors increase the visibility of individuals who do not belong in the school building and make the facility safer for all who use it.”

The strategies goes on to state that an identification card system, particularly when combined with access control procedures, deters individuals with no legitimate business in the school from attempting to enter the building and reduces opportunities for on-campus crimes, violence and drug dealing by unauthorized outsiders.

The council suggests that schools using identification cards issue them to students and staff at the beginning of the school year. Students, faculty and staff should be required to display valid identification cards to enter the building. They also suggest colorcoding the IDs to differentiate between student classes, and between faculty and staff, and that the cards be worn throughout the day by everyone in the school building. In addition, the council recommends that he visitor ID cards be larger than any other, making them noticeable and distinctive from those worn by students and staff.

The strategy states that visitors should be issued temporary identification cards after showing a driver’s license and signing in as they enter the building. Signs should be placed at the main entrances to notify visitors that identification is required to enter the school building. Each school in a district using the identification system needs to have a distinct card to reduce the likelihood that students or staff from other facilities could enter without authorization.

For more information about the National Crime Prevention Council’s strategies, visit www.ncpc.org/topics/school-safety.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • California School District Completes Elementary School Modernization

    The San Diego Unified School District in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting for a whole-site modernization of Pacific Beach Elementary School, according to local news. The school first opened with one building in 1930 and added six more between 1938 and 1957.

  • DFW-Area District Opens New Replacement Middle School

    The Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District near Fort Worth, Texas, recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new replacement middle school campus, according to a news release. The new facility for Wayside Middle School, originally established in 1964, was built on the site of the former district administration building and funded through Bond Proposition A in 2023.

  • Children walking along bright school corridor with motion blur

    How Next-Gen Design Is Reshaping the Student Experience

    The environments where students learn play a crucial role in shaping their growth in and out of the classroom. By centering design on well-being, flexibility, and purpose, districts can ensure their facilities remain vibrant community assets for many years to come.

  • How a Portable Sink Helped an Art Classroom Run More Smoothly

    Classroom design decisions can have outsized effects on instructional time and safety at schools juggling mismatched infrastructure, strict budgets, and crowded schedules — particularly in the arts. Between spilled paint and dirty brushes, art classes run smoother with a sink in the studio. But many schools don’t have a sink in every art classroom.