MACON, Ga. — The Bibb County School District is implementing something new in all of its schools by Tuesday.
"It’s like a new norm,” Rutland High student Dajiss Houston said.
Bibb County students like Dajiss Houston and Griffin McKinney will now be scanning ID cards on the regular.
Those cards are countywide, allowing students to scan when checking into school, getting lunch, books and even riding the bus.
"The bus driver, she taps that we're on the bus, then she proceeds with her route," he explained.
For McKinney, cards are just like an early dose of responsibility.
"It's kind of keeping up with your own driver’s license, a mask, your laptop, anywhere you want to go. Just definitely preparing us to be more adult in the real world," he said.
The district is giving the students lanyards and asking that the cards be visible at all times, providing an extra sense of security.
For Wendy Pooler, the principal at Rutland High, she gets to see things from an administrative and parental perspective.
"Just to have that extra layer with them as a parent, I think it is very beneficial and it's a peace of mind as a parent," she said.
The Bibb County School District recently implemented the ID's in an effort to save time.
"It's given us the opportunity to have more efficient and effective processes in our school,” the district’s Chief Information Officer Rose Powell explained.
Powell says scanning is also a first time safety opportunity, identifying children at school activities and can even track times they got on and off busses.
"If we needed to know if a student was on a certain bus that afternoon or that morning, we're going to be able to check and see," Powell said.
It has pros for the little ones too.
“They don’t know their number or login to type it in, so on this ID card we have their QR code that they just hold up to their iPad and it will log them into their class link," Powell said.
Saving time, while adding security.
Students are expected to wear the card at all times beginning Feb. 1.