Houston area schools use RFID badges to track students

An article in the Houston Chronicle reports about the use of RFID (radio frequency identification) tags in badges worn by middle school children in two Houston area schools.

Radio frequency identification -- the same technology used to monitor cattle -- is tracking students in the Spring and Santa Fe school districts.

Identification badges for some students in both school districts now include tracking devices that allow campus administrators to keep tabs on students' whereabouts on campus. School leaders say the devices improve security and increase attendance rates.

The ACLU fought the use of RFID technology in 2005 - when a rural elementary school in California introduced the badges. The program was dismantled because of parental concern.

Just last month, a district in California used federal stimulus money to buy tags for preschool students, drawing national attention and outrage.

Was the outrage because of tagging children like cattle or because federal stimulus money was used?

Click here for more on the "cattle tags" for children.