The Blue & White

by Caitlyn McGhee

At Methuen High School, as of the 22-23 school year, school IDs are making a comeback.

At the beginning of the school year, MHS administration announced that school IDs would need to be carried with students during school hours. This was also a rule in the 19-20 school year, but when COVID-19 hit, lanyards and IDs were kind of forgotten about as masks were the most important rule being enforced by schools.

Personally, I think that IDs can be a good and a bad thing. I think a form of identification is always good in case of emergencies, because it is easier to identify a person with a picture and name on their ID card instead of just a number. They are also good because the scanner bar makes the late student check in process much easier.

On the other hand, if you forget your ID at home that could cause issues if you end up being late or you have to show it for some reason. I keep my ID and lanyard attached to my car keys so I don’t forget, but I could see it causing an issue if it got misplaced. I also believe being able to choose your own lanyards would be a perk to the ID system. It’s good to be able to express yourself, your interests, and who you are in school, and being able to have the creative freedom to do so through the lanyards.

Overall, the lanyard and ID policy definitely has its pros and cons in terms of convenience, but it’s made for identification so it’s a generally smart idea and could definitely make things run smoother in case of emergency, and it’s hard to disagree with that.