US high school student suspended for refusing to wear an chipped ID tag fitted with a GPS tracker

PUBLISHED: 15:36 EST, 22 November 2012 | UPDATED: 16:08 EST, 22 November 2012

A high school student was suspended after she refused to wear a student ID card implanted with a GPS identification chip because it is against her religious beliefs.

Andrea Hernandez, from Texas, has been fighting with officials at Northside Independent School District in San Antonio since they began issuing the RFID-chip-laden student-body cards when the semester began in the fall.

The Radio Frequency Identification badge has a bar code which is able to track students movements on campus, from when they arrive until when they leave and is aimed at a way to combat truancy.

Andrea Hernandez has been fighting with officials at Northside Independent School District in San Antonio since they began issuing the RFID-chip-laden student-body cards

Controversial: The Radio Frequency Identification badge has a bar code which is able to track students movements on campus, from when they arrive until when they leave

When Andrea refused to wear the badge around her neck, she was notified by the school district that she would not be able to attend John Jay High School but would have to go to another school who had not yet adopted the chip.

Andrea and her family are Christians and she said she does not want to wear the badge because it signifies Satan, or the Mark of the Beast warning in Revelations 13: 16-18.

This verse says: 'It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.'

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The chips used are the same ones found in passports and payment cards. Districts across the nation are slowly adopting them because most school budgets are tied to daily attendance.

According to Wired, if a student is not in their seat during morning roll call, the district doesn’t receive daily funding for that pupil.

When Andrea refused to wear the badge around her neck, she was notified by the school district that she would not be able to attend John Jay High School

Suspension: When Andrea refused to wear the badge around her neck, she was notified by the school district that she would not be able to attend John Jay High School

With the tracking, if they are not at their desks but are on campus the district receives its daily allotment for that student.

NISD last week told Andrea's family she could wear a badge with the 'battery and chip removed' on the proviso that her father Steve Hernandez 'publicly support the program'.

Mr Hernandez has been an outspoken critic of the badge and chip system and told InfoWars: 'That destroys the argument that the purpose to track students for attendance purposes.

'How are they supposed to safeguard privacy concerns if no one is responsible for its administration?'

NISD wants to eventually force all 100K students in the sprawling district’s 112 school buildings to wear the chipped badges.

Mr Hernandez then managed to secure the Virginia-based Rutherford Institute’s help who put him in contact with a lawyer who would help him.

Today, a Texas judge tentatively blocked the suspension pending further hearings next week.

The Rutherford Institute president John Whitehead said: 'There is something fundamentally disturbing about this school district’s insistence on steamrolling students into complying with programs that have nothing whatsoever to do with academic priorities and everything to do with fattening school coffers.'

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I Agree with The Student All this " Big Brother" ID stuff is getting out of hand. They are slowly removing all our Freedoms under false pretense. Look at The TSA at Airports as one Example..

- Rick , Pace, USA, 23/11/2012 02:23

Click to rate Rating 158

GPS trackers do not belong on human beings. This is insane and terrifying. I would refuse this if I were a student and am certain my parents would back me up. Good for this family. I hope they get more support and this program gets shut down.

- Frankenbeth , Jackson Hole, United States, 23/11/2012 02:23

Click to rate Rating 170

Well, she can always go to a private school or be home schooled. I am guessing that she and her family are looking for a way to sue the school so they can not have to work.

- elisabeth , Beverly Hills, 23/11/2012 02:18

Click to rate Rating 133

I supposed this family does not use cell phones, credit cards, debit cards, bank cards,passports, IPODs, IPads etc. I wonder if they are actually Amish. The ignorance of people who profess to be Christian is truly astonishing to the rest of the world.

- Ktkat1949 , Victoria BC Canada, 23/11/2012 02:17

Click to rate Rating 75

What a load of nonsense!! She is obviously deluded and brainwashed.

- eats,shoots&leaves; , Australia, 23/11/2012 02:08

Click to rate Rating 82

Just say NO! If I had a child there, they wouldn't be wearing it either, and it has NOTHING to do with religious reasons. It does however have everything to do with raising my child to be an individual, not a number, or a statistic. It has to do with NOT conditioning my child to just follow the crowd and allow themselves to be conditioned to be controlled by "other," like government or big business. Governments and businesses would LOVE to convince people to be chipped and tracked at all times. It will be advertised as being for their convenience and safety. Ultimately though, it's really about controlling of the individual.

- Garnet , Pacific Northwest, 23/11/2012 01:55

Click to rate Rating 117

I'm a former student. They need to pay us a cut ot what they get to give incentive for being there learning all of the governmental lies they want to teach people about how the universe operates. All of the mathematics and chemistry I've learned from John Jay is not correct, was incorrect and they should be condemned for teaching fals education as directed by the board of education. Most of what they are teaching is not true or factual but based on biased opinions that seemed discriminatory. This school isn't writing me back. They have my transcripts. I might have to petition them to get them to do anything.

- Jason Sweet , Saint Louis, United States, 23/11/2012 01:52

Click to rate Rating 41

What an idiot. No loss. Let her get home brainwashed, I mean schooled. Whiney parrents are all ready to sue a school board becasue their brat left school and did something they were not supposed to. When a school does something right to track these delinquents, the "privacy" nuts and bible thumpers come out of the woodwork. We have gone down the tubes as a society.

- Terry T , Anywhere USA, United Kingdom, 23/11/2012 01:50

Click to rate Rating 99

I've looked into the RIDF card thing. . . The chips aren't very strong and if you go something like a 1 to 2 miles out of range they become unable to track you. And if she had really read the entire book of Revelation she would have known that Christians will have already returned to Heaven when the mark of the beast is given out. (Rev. 4-17; Yes all 13 chapters)

- LadyJ , South Carolina, United States, 23/11/2012 01:42

Click to rate Rating 44

I'm against the chip badge for privacy reasons only. Maybe the family thought if they brought god and the bible into it, they'd have a better chance of winning. This is after all, bible thumping Texas.

- Susan , Avon CT. USA, 23/11/2012 01:38

Click to rate Rating 32

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