Pupil Hernandez, who refused to wear RFID, loses appeal


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Pupil Hernandez, who refused to wear RFID, loses appeal

A Texan student who refused to wear a badge with a radio tag that tracked her movements has lost a federal court appeal against her school's ID policy.

The radio chips track attendance, which in turn helps secure school funding.

But Andrea Hernandez, 15, stopped wearing the badge on religious grounds, saying it was the "mark of the beast".

After John Jay High School suspended her, she went to court and won a temporary injunction to continue her studies at the school, without the tag.

The federal court ruling overturned that, saying if she was to stay at the school, she would be required to wear the badge. Otherwise, she would have to transfer to a new school.

The new identification policy at the Northside Independent School District (NISD) in San Antonio, Texas, began at the start of the 2012 school year.

John Jay High School is one of two schools piloting the programme, which eventually aims to equip all student badges across the district's 112 schools with radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips.

The badges reveal each student's location on their campus, giving the district more precise information on attendance.

The daily average of the attendance is related to how much funding each school receives.

But Miss Hernandez said the badge was the "mark of the beast", as described in chapter 13 of the Book of Revelation in the Bible.

Source: BBC News

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Her reasoning is insane but I agree with her actions.

Not much "insaner" than the requirement of wearing a RFID chip which helps funding.

I mean, really? I'm also glad the federal court basically said "you don't like it? you leave".

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Think she could have, and should have, won this if she had used a different arguement.

I'm not sure what. Hopefully she doesn't actually believe this, and it was just some grounds to bring up a case by.

It's ridiculous on the whole, though.

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I'm not sure what. Hopefully she doesn't actually believe this, and it was just some grounds to bring up a case by.

It's ridiculous on the whole, though.

Surely there must be some kind of invasion of privacy precedent that she could have used rather than this?

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So I wonder if she carries a cell phone around too? Considering with a cell phone, they can track you "anywhere" period, and not "just" on campus. Either way, as a Christian I find her reason to be retarded, unless her student id number is 666, at which point, I wouldn't want it either lol. And for those that haven't read it, this is the section of Revelations, chapter 13 that talks about the mark of the beast:

16And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

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This article seems to be a bit weighted against the use of RFID's, there are many practical reasons why this would be a benefit, e.g. parents can now be sure their child is attending classes and not elsewhere which I'm sure is a worry if their kids have issues.

Also in a shooting incident/hostage, you would know exactly the position of the pupils in a given area of campus and help them evacuate.

Remember schools are also under pressure from parents these days who what to know how many times their kid has gone to the loo, etc!

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This is a good ruling. I think the kids should be required to wear these badges, especially considering all that's happened at schools lately. One more layer of security is a good thing.

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Just add armed officers and airport type full body checking machines with, at random, more close up search to that and you will have the very best schools.

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So I wonder if she carries a cell phone around too? Considering with a cell phone, they can track you "anywhere" period, and not "just" on campus.

That was one of my first thoughts.

666 is not the number of the beast, that's a long known about error. :rolleyes:

You mean because there is no "beast"? :spell:

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I think its a horrible school policy, but my view of the law is that judges have very little say here. A school is like a courthouse, you can impose extra measures in the school that you can't on the general public. As a parent, I'd take it to the school board instead of the court.

Her religious objection is just that she sees these type of tracking schemes as fundamentally evil, don't make too much of it.

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