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The first day of Berkeley High School’s new student ID policy was far from a booming success, with many students not receiving their identification cards and most of the others disregarding the policy even though they had their tags. 

Last year’s policy said that all students simply had to have their student identification with them at all times. Students were rarely asked for their IDs for reasons other than dances or discount sports tickets. 

This year all students and faculty will be required to wear their identification cards where they can be easily seen. 

Although the policy won’t officially be in effect until Sept. 6, many students said they wouldn’t wear the new cards anyway. 

“The only people who are wearing them are the freshman who haven’t caught on yet,” said junior David Chernicoff. “The new system isn’t going to work because none of the students are going to respect it.” 

According to Principal Frank Lynch, the student ID policy was changed because there were a lot of problems caused last year by non-Berkeley High students who were on campus and couldn’t be identified as non-Berkeley High Students. 

“We found out that we had people on campus who didn’t belong here,” said Lynch, “and the only way we could stop that from happening would be if we could identify them immediately.” 

However, many students who do attend Berkeley High do not like the idea of keeping their ID cards visible. 

“No one is going to want to wear their IDs. They don’t match clothing,” said sophomore Rachaell Castro. “They’re ugly; they’re put on funky little chains; they’re inconvenient.” 

According to Lynch, students who don’t have their ID cards will be treated as non-students – they will be sent off campus and asked to go home to retrieve their identification.