As of Feb. 2, students are required to use their physical school ID cards to receive school meals, according to an email sent by Assistant Principal Casey McMurray.
The new rule is in place because It has become too easy for students to receive more than tone school meal, McMurray said.
“There has been an increase in students using an ID that is not their own by simply typing another student’s ID number in the keypad,” McMurray said.
The only ways to receive meals now will be through the physical I.D. or the online 5-Star app ID, which can be used to scan your I.D. barcode, McMurray said.
“If they have lost/misplaced their physical ID card, a replacement card can be purchased for $5 at the MHS student bank.”
This new requirement was implemented to prevent students from taking more than one school meal, Milpitas High Kitchen Lead Rachelle Dalisay said.
“I lost 80 meals a day,” she said. “There’s no more (stealing), because they’re using their ID now.”
Dalisay believes that this policy will work since it has already been implemented in other parts of the district, she said.
“We want to emphasize it here in MHS because we already do that in Russell, and it’s working for us,” Dalisay said.
Even though the Innovation Campus and the Extension Campus are implementing the new policy she said.
“The high school extension and the Innovation Campus, too (have the ID requirement),” Dalisay said. “The problem with high school extension is that they don’t have an app because it’s so expensive to buy an app. The principal told us that every time the kids are going to bring their physical ID”
Junior Ryllie Dulay believes that the new requirement is good; however it may discourage hungry students who want school food but do not have their ID with them, he said.
“It adds extra effort into getting lunch for students, and if you forget your ID and you don’t want to use the five-star app, you’re screwed,” Dulay said.
However, not everyone believes that the online 5-Star system is safe, Dulay said.
“I don’t feel comfortable using the 5-star app because if you check the reviews on the app, it says that it allows the school to track your phone and see where you are,” Dulay said.
Some students think that this new requirement is not a positive addition. Junior Desmond Wang believes that this new rule will make getting meals significantly harder, he said.
“It will not make the lines faster,” Wang said. “Most people scramble to find their IDs or just don’t have them and try to go behind the people behind them (to find their ID).”
However, believes that the lines will move faster because of the transition from typing to a physical ID, she said.
“I noticed, starting Tuesday and today (Wednesday), they (the students) got it(understood it). So they bring their physical and digital ID with them – it’s faster,” Dalisay said. “Scanning is only one second long, and the good thing about that is that’s the real ID, right? That’s not guessing anyone’s ID,” she said.
