A new bill passed this week in Oregon permits the use of RFID technology for student roll call and attendance monitoring.
According to a report from MSN, the bill passed in a 28-2 vote, and will require those schools interested in RFID tracking to notify students, parents and the state Board of Education prior to implementing the technology.
RFIDs, or Radio Frequency Identification Devices, have previously seen use in the tracking of cattle and other consumer products but the tracking of American students is a relatively new use case for the technology.
The RFID devices can be embedded within student ID cards or attached to the student’s clothing and could be used to monitor students’ exact location on campus as well as assist in attendance functions.
Though already passed, no schools in Oregon have implemented RFID tracking yet. There are, however, schools in Texas and California that have.
In fact, the sponsor of the Oregon bill, Representative Phil Barnhart, D-Eugene, revealed that the bill was prompted by a story he read about a Texas high school student who was suspended after refusing to wear an RFID-embedded ID card.