This year, the Penn-Trafford School District is putting a stronger emphasis on its dress code; specifically, students are being prohibited from wearing non-medical or religious hats or hoods while in school due to new facial recognition software being put in place. 

   P-T assistant principal Greg Capoccioni said that with the school’s current camera system, they have to jump from camera to camera to find a certain student who may be affiliated with an issue.

     “It’s very challenging with our camera system to identify who’s doing what or where they are,” stated Capoccioni. “It’s become more of a safety concern than ever right now because we cannot identify our students with hoods and hats on.”

     The dress code will stay the same as it has been, including the hats and hoods policy, with the same set of steps to enforce it that includes sending a student down to the nurse and the possibility of ICE for multiple offenses. 

   “The second part of that [hats and hoods rule] is more of a traditional thing within buildings,” assistant principal Amy Horvat stated. “It’s a respect thing to not have your hat on in a building that has a flag on it. It’s respect for the country.”

   Highlighting the policies limiting hats and hoods is due to the upcoming installation of facial recognition software throughout the P-T school district. As of now, facial recognition is being primarily used in security, law enforcement and health services, but there is talk of the software being increasingly utilized in schools including Penn-Trafford.

     Capoccioni said that the goal for the high school is to update the technology before Christmas. This would involve switching out the current cameras for ones with facial recognition and eventually getting the entire district on the same program.

     Facial recognition has two sides to it. While some say that the technology has a positive use of recognizing and therefore helping to protect students and staff alike against any bad characters that might enter the school, others argue that the technology is an invasion of students’ privacy due to the software scanning faces.

   “We’re not looking to take more of your privacy away; we’re looking to speed up the process,” Capoccioni stated. “We’re not adding more cameras or privacy areas. We’re just updating our technology; it is behind a little bit here.”

   Once the cameras have facial recognition, it would immediately alert administration if an unauthorized person was trying to enter the building. In addition to facial recognition, administration is also looking into license plate recognition possibilities. This would allow the school to look up a certain person’s license plate number if necessary; if someone was on campus that is not supposed to be, the school would be alerted immediately.

   “There are 1,300 students in this building, and we don’t know every single face of every single kid,” Horvat added. “… In the past, we’ve had to bring a kid down here and say ‘Do you know who this kid is?’ That’s a very uncomfortable feeling for students, but if we have that recognition, we won’t have to do that. That’s going to make things easier.”

   The technology is newer, so it will be many students’ first time dealing with facial recognition.

        “We just want you guys to be safe; you can’t learn unless you’re safe, so that’s our No. 1 goal,” Capoccioni added.

 

Abby Dreistadt, Editor in Chief; Mia Williams, Business Manager