It has long been established that public schools are not a democracy. Students have little or no voice in what is taught and how, or for what purpose. They don’t vote on their teachers and are subjected to schedules upon which they have little influence.

Defining the exact form of authoritarian government embraced by a particular public school depends largely upon actions taken by its board of trustees. Some trend toward leniency, some prefer cash-based systems, and some march lock-step with state government mandates never questioning the antics of lawmakers who listen solely to lobbyists who are literally making a killing off our kids.

The newest adventure by a Texas school district — Northside Independent School District in San Antonio — to electronically monitor nearly 4,000 students, moment by moment wherever they go by utilizing active RFID tracking devices exhibits a new low and is based on a concentration camp mentality.

Students who refuse to be tracked are expelled and the trustees are taking a “no debate” position with the public regarding this experiment, even in light of a lawsuit after a student declined to wear the radio frequency identification (RFID) badge and was removed from school. Her family took legal action against John Jay High School Engineering Academy.

A federal appeals court in New Orleans recently sided with the school board, but attorneys for the family are awaiting a trial date, their argument resting on “the merits of our constitutional claims.”

The Iconoclast has long sided with independent freedom. This blatant removal of freedom should never have happened. Each trustee should be held accountable for treating our children like lab rats by being removed from office and being charged with several felonies that evolve from destroying individual rights and victimizing our school children.

Some controls in school administration are necessary, but some, such as this one, are way out of bounds. The Iconoclast, of course, encourages every student at that school to refuse to wear the badge. It is a right of humanity not to be recklessly intruded upon.

— W. Leon Smith