Copperas Cove elementary students receive ID badges

By MEGAN TAWNEY 

Special to Leader-Press 

First grader Krystalyn Bell scans her new identification badge as she enters Clements/Parsons Elementary School. 

It allows quick access into the school as the reading of the barcode on the badge not only identifies the student but also shows that she has completed her weekly COVID-19 screener.

Copperas Cove ISD elementary students are now wearing student identification badges, also referred to as Smart Tags, this school year. CCISD high school students have used ID badges for several years and junior high schools in Copperas Cove began using student ID badges three years ago. 

At the start of the school year, the new student identification badges for Clements/Parsons students were originally to be used to replace the traditional bus passes. However, paraprofessional Kim Wilson saw potential to use them in a variety of ways to support students by linking the badges through the Skyward Student Management Software. Skyward provides family engagement, student services and classroom tools.

“The Smart Tag enables us to get students safely into the building by scanning their badges to ensure that their weekly (COVID-19) screens are completed. The Smart Tags have really sped up our first day of the week screening process and students adjusted very quickly to the scan-and-go system,” Wilson said. “The badges are especially  helpful for our younger students who are softspoken and struggle with remembering last names.”

The Smart Tag is scanned when a student is tardy and the speedy process gets students into their classrooms as quickly as possible so little academic instruction time is missed. Students scan badges in the school library to check in and out books.

Librarian Tonya Marrow said the Smart Tags have made the process of students checking out or returning books simpler and quicker.

“The students have picked up the scan-and-go process very quickly and are always very proud scanning their own badge with their name on it,” Marrow said.

The Smart Tags also increase efficiency in the cafeteria, getting students through the breakfast and lunch lines quickly, and serve as bus passes to ensure that students are on the correct bus and they can be located quickly on the bus route in the event of a parent emergency.  

Martin Walker Elementary also instituted student identification badges at the beginning of this school year and all CCISD elementary schools expect to implement the program before the end of the first semester.