Parents required to swipe driver’s license to enter school; soon a background check

Parents are outraged at the latest implementation of security theater in local schools.

DENVILLE, NJ — Parents in a New Jersey school district have been notified that visits inside their children’s school will require now an electronic scan of their drivers’ licenses — and soon, a full background check.

A letter dated April 21, 2014, explains the new security measures, as decided by the Denville Township Board of Education. In order to keep “students and faculty safe,” the school wishes to record digital information from the visitors’ state-issued ID cards upon each visit beyond the main office.

The letter states that each swipe will log the owner’s personal data and will generate a visitor badge.

Read the letter below:


Police State USA obtained one of the letters from a Denville parent named Dan. After finding the letter in his daughter’s backpack, he expressed concerns over the necessity and effectiveness of such security measures, saying that school tragedies were being used to impose unnecessary restrictions on parents.

“A driver’s license scan and background check would not have prevented Adam Lanza from committing the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting… No swipe sign-in system would have stopped him.”

“A driver’s license scan and background check would not have prevented Adam Lanza from committing the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting,” Dan told Police State USA. “Lanza shot his way through a glass panel next to the locked front entrance doors of the school. No swipe sign-in system would have stopped him.”

The Denville father ‘s objections appear to be founded, as it is unclear how a violent criminal would have been hindered by a lack of a visitor badge. At best, the system should be criticized for offering a false sense of “keeping students and faculty safe” when it will do nothing of the sort. At worst, the swipes represent an unwelcome invasion of privacy and a compromise of personal ID security.

“It is offensive that they are using the deaths of 20 children as an excuse to tighten their grip,” Dan said.

The Denville Township School District is comprised of two elementary schools (grades K-5), and one middle school (grades 6-8). The security measures will affect the parents of approximately 2,000 students.

That is, unless citizens object loudly before the system is launched. Contact information for the district superintendent is listed below.

Accountability Check
Are ID scans a fair, effective, and desirable policy?  Let the Board of Education know.
Denville Township Board of Education
Catherine Mozak: cmozak@denville.org
Phone:  (973) 983-6530