A policy change for the two public high schools in Vicksburg will keep students from leaving without parental permission, Superintendent Donald Oakes said Tuesday.

In previous years, high school students leaving during the school day had to be signed out by a parent or guardian or by someone listed on student information cards. Under a policy revision initiated at the beginning of the new school year, only parents or guardians will be allowed to remove students during school hours.

Parents or guardians are also being required to present photo identification when checking students out of school.

“It’s an effort to increase security,” Oakes said.

Although Vicksburg Warren School District parents were asked to fill out information cards with the names of other people authorized to pick up students, those on the list are no longer permitted to remove children from classes except in emergencies, Oakes said.

The new policy for Warren Central and Vicksburg high schools was started after some students were found to have added other names before returning forms to schools, he said.

“A name would be on the leave permit and parents would swear they did not put it on there,” Oakes said.

The policy does not apply to the district’s two junior high schools or the 10 intermediate and elementary schools.

Students were given copies of the school handbooks that included the new policy at orientation before the beginning of the school year, but no notices were sent to parents, Oakes said.

In cases of illness, a student can still be checked out of school by those authorized on the information cards, but only after parents have been contacted by school officials.