Controversy Surrounds Cards Being Tested For Monitoring Students Activity

The Boston Globe (10/28) reports that "civil libertarians are raising privacy concerns about a plan by Boston public schools to issue cards to students that could be used for a variety of services from riding the bus, to borrowing library books, to accessing meal programs." State ACLU director Carol Rose "says school officials have no right to know where students go, or what they read." But school officials say that the cards, which are being "issued to 530 students in grades 6 through 12...as part of a pilot program," could help reduce absenteeism.