MINONK - Fieldcrest High School is making steps toward beefing up security on campus with student ID badges.

"Right now, the badges help with name recognition for teachers, and also you can tell who belongs and who doesn't," said Principal Bill Lapp. "It identifies the people who are in the building."

He said teachers can identify their usual students, but the badges help substitute teachers.

"We also have kids who come back and visit and hang around," he said. "So it helps us know who is a student and who is not."

Lapp said staff members have been wearing them since the beginning of the school year. "We initiated it so that students would get used to seeing them," he said.

The badges are not required, but students lose certain privileges if they aren't wearing them.

"It's more of a procedure than a rule," he said. "But without them, students don't get to go to their lockers or the restroom. They have to go to the back of the lunch line. We don't feel like we're asking anything out of the ordinary by asking them to wear their badges."

Lapp said most high schools have a similar system, and corporate settings often require badges.

"Our ultimate goal is better security," he said. "When (Superintendent Randy) Vincent asked me what was on our wish list this year, this was my biggest thing."

Lapp said the ID badges were part of that security effort, as well as fixing locks around the building and controlling the flow of traffic on the campus.

"Our high school is unique because it is wide open. We have kids cutting across campus to get to class," he aid. "I'm pushing for a locked entrance, where there will only be two spots where students can enter."

Lapp said eventually he hopes to have a system where the doors only unlock when the bell rings for a class change.

"Then when the bell rings again for kids to be in class, the doors will lock again," he said. "This would be a good thing."

Another goal is for students to use their ID badges as a means of entering the building. "They would have to scan their badges as a way of checking in," said Lapp. "Then we could tell who is late."

He said it is possible that the badges could be used instead of money in the lunch line.

"Parents could get online and put money in their kid's lunch account," Lapp said. "Then when they scan their badge like a bar code, they can buy food."

But most importantly, Lapp said the measures will help prevent violence at the school.

"With all the school shootings that have gone on, I think about safety all the time," he said. "It's a huge responsibility to manage a building and these are just the steps we're taking to make sure we're secure."