Texas' Copperas Cove Independent School District is helping ensure the safety of its students by issuing ID badges to be worn at all times.

As reported by local ABC affiliate KXXV, the student credentials will be issued to all junior high students and will be used throughout the school day for checking into class, getting lunch in the cafeteria or checking out books from the library.

District officials say the reasoning behind the new credentials is safety and the ability to know who and where students are.

"We started this semester with student ID cards as another form of an added security measure for our campus, as well as helping us out in a lot of different ways," said Dr. Jimmy Shuck, Principal at S.C. Lee Junior High School.

The student IDs are color coded to easily identify students by grade level and other campus-specific groupings. Lost or damaged student IDs carry a $2 replacement fee.

The new ID cards will denote to school staff who is supposed to be on school premises, along with what grade the cardholder is in. The cards will also include school-specific grouping information and function as a library card and meal card.

The new student IDs will also aid school officials in times of campus emergencies. For school fire drills depending on when a drill occurs, the cards will be help staff members to quickly identify students, get headcount and identify any students that are present or missing.

The issuance process takes no more than a couple of minutes, and could help prepare students for what's to come in high school.

"A lot of the area high schools students are wearing ID cards there, as adults we have our drivers license," said Shuck."We don't necessarily have to wear those around our neck but in a lot of the work forces where you go to in different jobs they are going more and more to wearing or having some form of ID, this is the same thing for our kids."