The George Miller III Center is the focal point of the American Civil Liberties Union because of their use of microchips to track preschoolers. Contra Costa County School District in California introduced the tracking technology to alert teachers of student whereabouts.
ACLU technology and civil liberties director, Nicole Ozer, informed California Watch she requested information from the county about the programs utilization of microchips. Ozer is questioning the necessity of microchip implantation for inner city preschoolers.
The CLOUDS system requires that each child wear a basketball jersey implanted with a microchip. When students arrive, parents sign them in digitally. Students are monitored as dots on a screen. When a child leaves the designated area, electronic notifications are transmitted to school authorities. The school maintains that the microchips will assist teachers with attendance, giving them more time to teach instead of checking students in and out. The school also insists the chips make for a safer environment for the students to learn.
However, Ozer disagrees, “These chips are really high powered. They can be read up to 100 meters away, which means someone, could pick up the signal from across the street from the center. So rather than make the kids safer they may be making them more vulnerable.”
County officials said it could pay for itself within the year by reducing the cost of staffing.