By Zachary Leach
At the start of the last school year, Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) introduced students to a new digital ID system via the Five Star app. The app’s original function was to give students easy and quick access to their student identification using their phones. Initially, every student had the option of using their physical identification or their digital one.
However, as of the current school year, Five Star has become the official ID system campuswide.
“Printing ID cards is very expensive,” FVHS Supervision Secretary Dawn Basquez said. “Almost every person on this campus carries a phone. There’s a few that don’t. So, what are you more likely to forget: your phone or your ID card?”
Within the digital ID cards, icons indicate if students have a lunch pass, parking pass or SuperBaron membership. These icons can also include a temporary logo notifying students to visit school offices such as Supervision.
Through the Five Star’s hall pass system, students will be required to scan a QR code provided by their teacher to leave the classroom and upon returning. By default, students are permitted two seven-minute hall passes every day, with exceptions granted on a case-by-case basis with supervision.
Just over a year ago, the Huntington Beach Union School District (HBUHSD) bought a package deal with Five-Star, giving all HBUHSD schools perks and new features. These features include bathroom passes, school-issued IDs, polls, announcements and more.
Electronic ID cards can also easily update with new information. Whether it’s a new pass or your name is misspelled, these mistakes can easily be fixed since it’s the “matter of pushing a button,” Assistant Principal of Supervision Elliot Skolnick said on the matter.
Among the students Baron Banner surveyed, many of them voiced concern with how their digital IDs are used as hall passes.
“It’s annoying having to scan [for the restroom] every time and being timed on how long,” senior Scarlett Cheek said. “For the people who don’t make trouble, it’s annoying.”
Since the institution of the new system, vandalism in school bathrooms has dropped significantly, according to Skolnick, and teachers and staff can make sure students aren’t skipping class.
Releasing a survey to teachers as well, Terick Thomas and fellow teachers notice significant improvements in their classroom management.
“In the past, I have had students regularly leave class for long periods of time,” Thomas said. “Now, with Five Star, teachers can see if a student is going to the bathroom every period, and we can bring this to the attention of their guardians to let them know that their student is regularly missing class.”
If students would like a physical copy of their ID, they must pay five dollars. However, for students like junior Addison Phan, a physical ID serves as a relic and memory of their high school years.
“Several students, like myself, have enjoyed collecting ID cards since we were in middle school,” Phan said. “Not getting a free ID card this year was rather disappointing, to say the least.”
For students who don’t have access to a phone and can’t use Five Star, they’ll be able to get a free copy of a physical ID.
Moving forward, FVHS will look to Five Star’s other features for building campus engagement, including a potential points system.
“One of the directions that Mr. Lopez would definitely like to see is [that] there are a lot of positive pieces of Five Star that can be used, which would tally student involvement,” Skolnick said. “… every time you [would] go to a game or an event, [or] an activity, when you get 100 points, there’s a certain prize we [can] give you [and] recognition [you] saying, ‘Hey, thanks for being involved in your school.’”
