SANTA ANA : School District Starts Smart Card Program

The Santa Ana Unified School District on Monday kicked off its innovative Smart Card program, designed to help students get jobs as well as improve their academic performance.

Billed as the first program of its kind in the nation, Smart Card offers high school students laminated plastic cards that display their academic, attendance and citizenship records.

When students apply for jobs, they can use the card as a kind of resume and letter of recommendation, said district Supt. Rudy M. Castruita, who conceived the idea.

“This will give them a leg up in securing that job,” Castruita said. “It will relate what they do in the classroom to what they do in the world of work.”

The card can be updated each semester to show new campus affiliations and recent grades.

The Chamber of Commerce and local businesses are underwriting the program’s $1,500 start-up costs. The district and chamber members will also publicize the cards and encourage local employers to ask that students show their cards when they apply for jobs.

Lewis Bratcher, principal of Santa Ana High School, said that as many as 90 students received Smart Cards at his campus Monday. He added that he expects the number of students participating in the program to swell as word of it gets around. Other high schools in Santa Ana will begin offering the cards this week.

Student Charlie Mizer inspected his new Smart Card and said he thought it might help him get a better job. An employer might look at it, the 18-year-old senior figured, and say: “ ‘You look pretty reliable in school; I guess you’d be pretty reliable as a worker.’

“I think it’s a pretty good program. That’s why I signed up for it,” Mizer added.

Because jobs mean money, he said, the cards could also encourage students with poor academic or attendance records to improve. “They’re going to better their grades to get money. It’s like a bribe--they’re going to do it,” Mizer said.