"Mooooo" say air passengers. "Baaaaa" say students. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 19:42:05 -0400 Newsgroups: alt.privacy Subject: New ID system keeps tabs on kids Students have their ID Cards scanned at the start of the school day at Bensalem High School By Denise Clay SPECIAL TO THE PREMIERE dclay@calkinsnewspapers.com Getting into Bensalem High School now requires identification, but not any card will do. Students have begun using photo identification cards connected to the school's new Comprehensive Attendance Administration and Security System. The cards have the student's name and other information encoded n them. A computerized reader scans them. The systen is designed to help school officials monitor students' comings and goings. In the future, the electronic screens at the ID stations will show if a student has been suspended and shouldn't be in school. The monitors will also sing "Happy Birthday" to a student on the appropriate day. Six identification stations are located at the front entrance of the school, said Princial Elliott Lewis. One station is staffed with a hall monitor all day. Students have been adjusting to the Windows 95-based system and the additional responsibilities connected to it, officials say. "The kids have been responding well," said Natalie Knable, assistant principal. "They've been carrying their IDs." Those who forget are given a temporary pass after signing in at the ID station.