JEFFERSON — Like superhero suit designer Edna Mode from Disney and Pixar’s “Mr. Incredible,” who puts her hand on a computer pad to identify herself, Jefferson and Rock Creek elementary-school students are using modern identification technology to improve lunchroom accounting.
But some parents and grandparents are not a bit impressed.
“This just really upset me, because they (Jefferson administration) did not ask us first,” said a concerned parent from Jefferson Township. “It is like these kids have no rights. I feel it is a privacy issue.”
The technology at the heart of the issue is called biometrics, and the school lunch program is called Meals Plus, said Doug Hladek, the Jefferson Area School District’s superintendent.
“This type of technology takes a picture of the child’s thumb or finger and assigns a number to it. When the child places his (or her) thumb on the computer, their whole lunch account comes up,” Hladek said. “This improves our accuracy, while maintaining the anonymity of children with reduced or free lunches.”
In fact, that is why the technology began: to protect the identities of children receiving free or reduced-rate lunches, a federally funded government program that subsidizes students from qualified families.
“It started when every child got a card that looked the same, and they would swipe their card. And the information would come up, or they would memorize a PIN (personal identification number) … . But cards get lost, and (PINs) get forgotten. This system is much more efficient and accurate,” he said.
Biometrics is being implemented only at the new Jefferson School District elementary schools and may be implemented at the new junior-senior high school when it opens, possibly in fall 2009, Hladek said.
“We are the only school district in the county currently using biometrics,” he said.
To alleviate concerns, Hladek said, “the computers do not store the thumb image and, therefore, (the fingerprints) cannot be duplicated.”
As far as informing parents in advance of implementation, a memorandum for parents has been prepared and will be sent out soon, but it did not go out with the first-day-of-school packets, Hladek said.
“If parents are still concerned, they can have their child’s thumb image purged from the computer, and they will have a (PIN),” Hladek said. “We are addressing all concerns as they come in.”
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