By CARMEN LINDSEY

carmen.lindsey@gaflnews.com

With STAFF REPORTS

CORDELE — In an effort to maintain a safe and secure environment conductive to learning, Crisp County High School has implemented an identification policy.

This policy states all persons must wear ID badges at all times while on campus. All teachers and students must wear their ID badges in a highly visible location. All students must wear a lanyard with ID badges around their necks.

“Our school is unique because we’re close to I-75,” said CCHS Principal Toriano Gilbert. “Anyone can walk into the school. These badges give everyone, even the students, a chance to know who is supposed to be on campus.”

Gilbert said he can forsee no problems with the policy. Things are going well. An average of ten people a day forget to wear badges, but that is somewhat to be expected after only a week in operation.

“This small number is really amazing to me,” Gilbert said. The school has approximately 11,033 students.

“Our students are to be commended,” he said. “They’re taking ownership for the safety of the school.”

Darius Gunn, a junior at CCHS, said he has no problem remembering to wear his badge. “I’ve barely taken it off. It’s like jewelry. I keep it on.”

CCHS is the only school in the Crisp County School System which has initiated this policy. “Maybe other schools will come on board, but that’s a decision of each school’s administration,” said Gilbert.

Assistant Principals Fredrick Richard and Hubert Adams played a big part in establishing the policy. Before approaching Gilbert with their idea, they located other schools in the area that had implented the use of ID badges, identified their successes and any cautions they discovered and researched the logistics of student identification.

“They did a lot of the leg work, talked to other administrations in the area, and approached with number of students in our school,” Gilbert said.

Once they approached Gilbert, and he approved the idea, they voiced their desires to the Crisp County Board of Education. The Board of Education voted to accept CCHS Principal Gilbert’s recommendation on Dec. 11, 2007.