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ASPEN — Parents in the Aspen School District may soon be able to choose whether their children will purchase lunch using a fingerprint-recognition system.
The district is still considering the fingerprint scanners, and hopes to have them implemented by March, according to Superintendent Diana Sirko. It has already purchased the scanners and run a pilot program using the children of employees.
“Parents will be given the opportunity to opt out of the system, but for many it will be something that provides better, up-to-date information regarding their child’s lunch account,” states a recent parent newsletter from Aspen Elementary School. Students who decide to opt out of the program will likely use a card system or similar program, Sirko said.
The school district has scheduled three meetings to discuss the fingerprint-recognition system it plans to implement in cafeterias at the middle and elementary schools. The meetings are advertised as a way to provide parents information about biometric technology, answer questions and discuss concerns.
“A natural reaction to the use of biometric technology is to express concerns regarding the risk of privacy invasion. We would like to address those issues and present why we believe this is safe for our children,” the newsletter says.
The district also has decided to implement an online payment system separate from the fingerprint system, so parents can pay online — and view their children’s purchases — whether or not their children use the fingerprint technology.
“As we got resistance on one piece, we thought, well, we can do one without the other,” Sirko said.
In November, the district announced plans to implement the fingerprint scanners and online payment system at the elementary and middle schools in order to make it easier for parents to pay for student lunches — and to pick up the pace of the lunch lines.
The system is a relatively inexpensive option for the district, requiring only the purchase of two or three scanners for $200 each. In part, that is because the new scanners would tie in with the district’s existing database, known as PowerSchool.
Since the announcement, Sirko said she has heard both from parents who have applauded the new, efficient technology and those who have concerns about privacy.
Despite concerns from parents and privacy advocates such as the American Civil Liberties Union, fingerprint-scanning programs have gained national and international popularity in the past several years. Advocates say the programs accelerate lunch lines and reduce stress among younger students prone to losing cards and lunch money.
Detractors worry that stolen fingerprint codes could be misused in new forms of biometric identity theft. Biometrics identify people based on unique traits such as fingerprints or irises.
In interviews, Michael Trader, president of Atlanta-based M2SYS, the company that makes the scanners, has insisted the system is safe. He explained the scanner recognizes unique points on a fingerprint, then converts those points to a data string of zeros and ones, using an algorithm.
Sirko said re-creating a fingerprint from the biometric information would be akin to re-creating a Social Security number with just four of the numbers.
The first informational meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 11, at the middle school cafeteria (as part of the middle school’s parent council meeting). The second will be the same day, at 6 p.m. at the middle school. The third is at 8:15 a.m. on Feb. 12, in the elementary school cafeteria (as part of the elementary school’s parent breakfast).
kredding@aspentimes.com
The district is still considering the fingerprint scanners, and hopes to have them implemented by March, according to Superintendent Diana Sirko. It has already purchased the scanners and run a pilot program using the children of employees.
“Parents will be given the opportunity to opt out of the system, but for many it will be something that provides better, up-to-date information regarding their child’s lunch account,” states a recent parent newsletter from Aspen Elementary School. Students who decide to opt out of the program will likely use a card system or similar program, Sirko said.
The school district has scheduled three meetings to discuss the fingerprint-recognition system it plans to implement in cafeterias at the middle and elementary schools. The meetings are advertised as a way to provide parents information about biometric technology, answer questions and discuss concerns.
“A natural reaction to the use of biometric technology is to express concerns regarding the risk of privacy invasion. We would like to address those issues and present why we believe this is safe for our children,” the newsletter says.
The district also has decided to implement an online payment system separate from the fingerprint system, so parents can pay online — and view their children’s purchases — whether or not their children use the fingerprint technology.
“As we got resistance on one piece, we thought, well, we can do one without the other,” Sirko said.
In November, the district announced plans to implement the fingerprint scanners and online payment system at the elementary and middle schools in order to make it easier for parents to pay for student lunches — and to pick up the pace of the lunch lines.
The system is a relatively inexpensive option for the district, requiring only the purchase of two or three scanners for $200 each. In part, that is because the new scanners would tie in with the district’s existing database, known as PowerSchool.
Since the announcement, Sirko said she has heard both from parents who have applauded the new, efficient technology and those who have concerns about privacy.
Despite concerns from parents and privacy advocates such as the American Civil Liberties Union, fingerprint-scanning programs have gained national and international popularity in the past several years. Advocates say the programs accelerate lunch lines and reduce stress among younger students prone to losing cards and lunch money.
Detractors worry that stolen fingerprint codes could be misused in new forms of biometric identity theft. Biometrics identify people based on unique traits such as fingerprints or irises.
In interviews, Michael Trader, president of Atlanta-based M2SYS, the company that makes the scanners, has insisted the system is safe. He explained the scanner recognizes unique points on a fingerprint, then converts those points to a data string of zeros and ones, using an algorithm.
Sirko said re-creating a fingerprint from the biometric information would be akin to re-creating a Social Security number with just four of the numbers.
The first informational meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 11, at the middle school cafeteria (as part of the middle school’s parent council meeting). The second will be the same day, at 6 p.m. at the middle school. The third is at 8:15 a.m. on Feb. 12, in the elementary school cafeteria (as part of the elementary school’s parent breakfast).
kredding@aspentimes.com
