*Menu
Search
Submit
Mountain Home News

Fingerprint ID takes the hassle out of school lunches

Thursday, April 10, 2008
Robert J. Taylor

For students at three Mountain Home elementary schools, lunch is now just a touch away.

On Feb. 26, East and West Elementary and Base Primary began using a computerized software program that tracks student meal accounts.

The software, known as Meal Time Program, uses a scan of students thumb or fingerprints to identify student's and to automatically deduct the balance of their meal from a prepaid account.

Food service director Brian Hershey said the old system of using a roster to check students names was archaic and not efficent.

"With the touch scanner, students are screaming through the line. We've cut efficiency down by 15 minutes a meal," Hershey said.

The system does not store an image or photo of the student's fingerprint. The scanner examines a few points of a fingerprint and generates unique numbers based on those points to create a secure key called a string.

Only the string value is retained for reference back to the student. These numbers cannot be converted into an actual fingerprint. Image fingerprints cannot be regenerated or reproduced for any purpose.

Hershey said the students' string will follow the student through high school once entered into the system and all Mountain Home schools should be using the program by the fall.

Using the system is optional but Hershey said only about a dozen parents district-wide have chosen not to use it. Parents can deposit money online, which prevents students from losing their lunch money.

"It's Buck Rogers goes to school," Hershey said.

While most students use their index fingers, Hershey said some students are having fun with the system and are using their thumb or pinky finger.

"One girl uses her middle finger, but she's not allowed to show anyone that finger," Hershey said.

The system also protects the anonymity and confidentiality of students who qualify for free or reduced meals and is currently used in the Twin Falls, Shoshone, Couer d'Alene, Jerome, and Post Falls school districts.

Comments
View 9 comments
Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

  • How does one deposit money into the childs account onine?

    -- Posted by miami72 on Thu, Apr 10, 2008, at 2:56 PM

  • its not that they have fingerprints, its who will have the fingerprints years later down the road, why not DNA too.

    its not worth the meal folks its just not worth it.

    like Dave Ramsey says "Pay with Cash"

    -- Posted by Freedom on Sun, Apr 13, 2008, at 5:31 AM

  • Conspiracy theorists unite!!! LOL.

    -- Posted by mrfresh28 on Mon, Apr 14, 2008, at 10:10 AM

  • BIG BROTHER is watching you!

    -- Posted by Moanah on Mon, Apr 14, 2008, at 6:38 PM

  • lol oh know...don't take the kids fingerprints...not that.... anything but that... Freedom.. you got issues

    -- Posted by The Oracle on Tue, Apr 15, 2008, at 3:48 AM

  • Miami, try mymealtime.com for depositing into your child's account.

    -- Posted by gcs on Tue, Apr 15, 2008, at 5:16 PM

  • There was a news story awhile back that there had been a proposal to start doing dna testing in elementary school to identify "problem children" early on.

    And, btw, this: "Only the string value is retained for reference back to the student. These numbers cannot be converted into an actual fingerprint." is a load of crap. If it can be converted from physical data into numbers, it can be converted back. Those 1s and 0s absolutely have a meaning and can be translated. That's not even a matter of being a paranoid conspiracy theorist. That's just computer knowledge.

    -- Posted by gcs on Wed, Apr 16, 2008, at 12:27 AM

  • Oh the idiocracy in this town is embarrassing! It's just a school system for pete's sake, those finger print records are protected by the Privacy Act. Even if the finger prints were sequestered (it would have to be for just cause) for a criminal investigation, then good-find those little delinquents! Having children in this school system, I find it highly convenient to have my child's lunch money safely accessible literally only by my child. I'm tired of lunchroom workers stealing from my children's mouth (it hasn't happened in recent years but it has happened)! And GCS, pick a side please. You help a reader out by telling where to go to put money in their account, then you turn around and start talking about DNA testing. You guys take this a little far with the whole DNA thing. THat's not even going to remotely happen, for 1 thing, it's completely illegal-that was in a fictional movie-not real life. Quit trying to stir things up folks. If you're that bored in this town, then get out! The rest of us are just trying to work and live!

    -- Posted by sgt_elle on Sun, Apr 20, 2008, at 11:30 AM

  • I have to ask why, why do we need more of our personal information in computers. For all of you people who choose to think that it is only a school lunch program, you apparently didn't read the entire article,

    "Hershey said the students' string will follow the student through high school once entered into the system and all Mountain Home schools should be using the program by the fall."

    It is apparently a system to track students via finger prints from elementary school through graduation. While its initial use is in the lunch room I have to ask, what will we say when grades and attendance are tied into the system. What will we say when fingerprinting is demanded for entrance into class or for the taking of standardized tests.

    Will we dismiss it as "just a lunch program" then?

    I admit it is easy to dismiss my comments as conspiracy theory, but any student of history can look back on social security and see the amount of abuse the possible of any system that tracks personal information let alone one that tracks not only the students personal information but the personal and financial information of the parents and the physical identifiers of the students.

    Is the possibility of abuse really worth the convenience of being able to send lunch money over the internet?

    -- Posted by jklrx on Tue, Apr 29, 2008, at 8:39 PM
Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: