California Schools Begin Tracking Students Playing Hooky With GPS

Anaheim, California schools are frustrated by students playing hooky. So they are going to do something about it--a big brother something about it.

They are going to test over the next six weeks a system that tracks students using GPS. If a student has four or more unexcused absences within the school year, they are going to be required to carry a GPS device so the school can monitor there whereabouts. I know where I would tell the school to cram it if I was a student there. This would be a violation of privacy rights, but parents are being asked to volunteer for the program at this time. It's unknown if that will change in the future.


Each morning on schooldays, they get an automated phone call reminding them that they need to get to school on time.

Then, five times a day, they are required to enter a code that tracks their locations – as they leave for school, when they arrive at school, at lunchtime, when they leave school and at 8 p.m.
The students are also assigned an adult coach who calls them at least three times a week to see how they are doing and help them find effective ways to make sure they get to class on time.

The receivers are expensive costing up to $400 a device. The school claims it loses $35 a day when a student misses. Remember, schools aren't given appropriations for their performance, they are given appropriations based on attendance--a sad fact that still upsets me.