ACLU Criticizes Plan to Electronically Track Middletown Students

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A civil liberties group is criticizing a plan in Middletown to track the movements of elementary school students by attaching computer chips to their backpacks.

The Rhode Island chapter of the ACLU says the pilot program to track students from the Aquidneck School when they're riding the bus to and from school raises enormous privacy and security concerns.

A similar proposal in Northern California was abandoned after protests by parents and privacy advocates.

Superintendent Rosemarie Kraeger says the program will be in place January 17 and they'll try it for a few months. She says they're hoping it improves communication with parents and keeps better track of students.

A spokeswoman for the company that makes the system says it will only be used to track children on buses. She says the tags only contain an ID number and can't be used by anyone outside the school to get a student's name or address.