Three months into the school year, at least eight newly-hired Centennial staff members still had not received their Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) ID badges. Those with missing IDs were left unable to get inside their place of work as mornings got colder, since these badges give staff access to the school building.
The ID cards were initially scheduled to be distributed in the first week of school, but an email was sent out on November 2 to those still missing their badges stating that there would be a delay since the copy machine was broken. Soon there was another email sent out, which stated “The position in charge of the ID badges has been going through some upheaval this year” and continued on to say that there was a glitch with the copy machine. Many new staff members did not get their ID cards until four months after school started.
Centennial Media Specialist Steven Parker mentioned that the ID card was mostly for access into the building and for the copy machine. If a staff member does not happen to have their ID card, many problems can arise. The copy machine would require teachers to, “put all their information in, just to print something rather than swipe their card which is much easier.”
Parker, who had not received his ID from the county, sometimes came early to get work done, but was not able to get into the building on his own. He was told there is only one person in the Howard County system printing the staff ID cards. Parker, being new to the country, said“ the extended delay made him feel unwelcome.”
Parker reported the badge situation to the Howard County Education Association (HCEA), the union, which led to an investigation. “The union called Human Resources (HR) and […] I got mine two days later.” After getting his ID card, Parker said “It feels like Christmas morning!” Centennial English teacher and JV girls’ soccer coach Jada Lee struggled with receiving her ID card as well. A specific problem she had was that “I look young, so for me [the ID] is to identify as a teacher.” She thought that Howard County put the printing issue on the backburner since “there were so many things happening in the beginning of the school year” like transportation, hires and curriculum. Not having an ID also presented a problem because Lee could not let her soccer players into the building after practice since there were limited staff members at the time.
As of December 6th, at least two teachers still had not gotten their badges.
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