Lorain/Elyria, OH
No cash? Elyria High students can pay with their finger
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ELYRIA — For lunch Monday, Elyria High School served up pepperoni pizza to the students who came back for the first day of classes.
But instead of students handing over cash, some placed their index fingers on small scanners and walked away with their lunches.
“I’m just really glad I don’t have to remember a number every day or have a card or something,” said 14-year-old Korey Gallaher. “All you have to do is put your finger down and go.”
With the start of the new school year well under way at the high school, a new lunch system is being piloted that will use student fingerprints instead of cards or personal identification numbers to access lunch accounts.
“As long as there is money in my account, I won’t have to worry about anything,” said 14-year-old Stephanie Nieves. “It’s going to make lunch that much easier.”
Ninth-grader Tyler Fern, 14, uses a biometrics fingerprint scanner in the lunch line Monday on the first day of school for Elyria High. (Photo by Lisa Roberson, The Chronicle-Telegram.)
As of Monday, just the freshman class is using the fingerprint program, but by this time next week the entire student body — roughly 2,100 students — and staff will have a scan of their index fingers on file.
“When it’s really up and running it will make things go a lot smoother and faster,” said Bill Jett, general manager of Sodexo, the district’s food service provider.
At a cost of roughly $91,000, Sodexo will pick up the tab to implement the program districtwide with the hope of recouping expenses over the next five years as more parents sign their children up for free or reduced lunches. The added advantage of the biometrics system is no one knows who receives free or reduced lunch or who has to pay for their meals.
There are still a few kinks to work out with the system as the small scanners located near all cash registers failed to recognize some fingerprints, prompting students to revert back to the old system of keying in personal identification codes.
Still, for those who used the new system, it was pretty cool.
“The technology is already out there for us to use biometrics in a number of ways,” said Principal Darren Conley. “In the future, we are looking at adding it to the media center for signing materials out or in the classrooms for attendance.”
Conley and the entire student body and teaching staff have a lot of other things to look forward to in the future.
This year marks the last year anyone will walk the current halls of Elyria High.
The new building will have something everyone who walked in the door Monday craved — air conditioning.
Some may see the amenity as a luxury, but don’t expect that from those walking the halls inside the hot, humid building with more than 2,200 other people, including staff.
“It is so crowded in here that sometimes it’s hard to go up the steps,” Stephanie said. “I can’t wait for the new school to open. We are going to get to experience both the old school and the new school.”
As a result, Conley, a 1981 EHS graduate, said a lot of time will be spent this year paying homage to Elyria High School.
“I have my own memories of walking through these same halls as a high-schooler,” he said. “(Monday) may be the first day of the year, but everyone knows we are thinking about closing out the building and doing it in the right way.”
Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.
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How sweet !!! Now the students won’t have to learn to count money, or have to focus on multi-tasking, *get my book bag and make sure I have my lunch money*, etc, and the school is doing soooooooo well, that $91,000, wasn’t needed to improve any other area. I can’t understand how individual families are struggling so bad, and yet, money is being wasted on programs like this.
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P.S… I hope everyone washes their hands, before they place their finger on the button……………
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justsaying
Sodexo is paying for this program not the ECSD.
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justsaying did you even read the article?
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One big database of names, info on each student and their fingerprints for the national database.
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Who is Sodexo? Is this the company providing the food service? I can understand the idea behind stopping people who don’t receive free or reduced lunches. When I was in school there were kids who would go up and give the name of some other kid who received a free lunch and they would get theirs for free. What I don’t get is why they said more parents are going to be signing up their kids for free or reduced lunchs in the future. I’m sure the free and reduced lunches are subsidized by the government. But if the company is looking at it like it is some sort of cash cow then they must be getting a lot more money than the meals are worth.
It also doesn’t say much about Elyria either if they think more and more people will need free and reduced lunches
And there was the report the other day that 90% of money has traces of cocaine along with other germs and bacteria. The reader is probably cleaner than the money. In any case everyone should wash their hands before they eat.
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I agree with the fingerprint and database statement phil… big brother is watching.
Isn’t it interesting how at a very early age children are being taught to live in a cashless society??? I remember going on field trips to Sea World when I was in grade school. Mom would give me $20 for the day and I was afraid to spend it all so I would have some left over for something else. Now there is no value placed on money. Just swipe your card or scan your finger… spend, spend, spend some more.
What about when the kids are overweight because all they had to do is swipe their finger for that extra cheese burger?
God help us all when all of these 12 year olds are 40.
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Chris,
I know from experience that many teenagers would rather go hungry than admit they are eligible for free/reduced lunches. At least this way, they can have lunch without all their friends knowing how it’s being paid for.
From a parent POV : If I would have the choice of putting money in an account for my kid to use for lunch vs giving them cash that could be lost, stolen, used for something other than lunch, I would have certainly considered it. As it was, my child took her lunch most of the time.
Skibonzai, it’s simple. Let Johnny know he has X days of lunch money available, when it’s gone, it’s gone. Besides have you eaten school food recently?
And, big brother knows more than you think he does. Really…
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Sodexo is a French multinational corporation and one of the largest food services and facilities management companies in the world, with 355,000 employees, representing 130 nationalities, present on 30,600 sites in 80 countries. For fiscal year 2008 revenues reached 13.6 billion euros, with a market capitalization of 5.6 billion euros. Revenues by region represent: 37% Continental Europe, 37% North America, 11% UK and Ireland, 15% Rest of World.
now i understand thr french nationals recently viditing the community….
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**Step right up for your complementary dose of Swine Flu, with that order of coronary blockage, Fool!**
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The students never had to say that they received free/reduced lunches to anyone. They could just simply scan their ID cards or impute the 6 number ID number. If they did not pay, they could simple tell their friends that their parents put money on their account. I honestly do not think that this system is needed and is going to cost more time in line while trying to make it work.
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I hardly think a kid is going to stave he /she will get food else where and as for the swine flu Pshh please these are high school student their not morons hand sanitizer
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What ever happened to packed lunches? Sure all kids would like a hot lunch… but to pay with your finger print because of easier tracking and bill payment… good way to teach our kids responsibility and another way of losing our freedom over convenience…
There’s that saying from Ben Franklin… Those willing to give up freedom for security don’t deserve freedom at all!!
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“…and as for the swine flu Pshh please these are high school student their not morons hand sanitizer”
Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me…
“This here song might offend you some
If it does, it’s because you’re dumb
That’s the way it is where I come from
If you’ve been there too, let me see your thumb
Let me see your thumb
(Ah, let me see your thumb)
Let me see your thumb
(Ah, let me see your thumb)
Let me see your thumb
(Ah, let me see your thumb)
Let me see your thumb
(Ah, let me see your thumb)
Let me see your thumb
(Ah, let me see your thumb)
Let me see your thumb
(Ah, let me see your thumb)
Let me see your thumb
(Ah, let me see your thumb)
Let me see your thumb
(Ah, let me see your thumb)
Show me your thumb if you’re really dumb
Show me your thumb if you’re really dumb
Show me your thumb if you’re really dumb
Show me your thumb if you’re dumb
Hey now, better make a decision
Be a moron and keep your position
You oughta know now all your education
Won’t help you no-how, you’re gonna . . .
Wind up workin’ in a gas station
Wind up workin’ in a gas station
Wind up workin’ in a gas station
Wind up workin’ in a gas station
Pumpin’ the gas every night
Pumpin’ the gas every night
Wind up workin’ in a gas station
Wind up workin’ in a gas station
Pumpin’ the gas every night
Pumpin’ the gas every night
Wind up workin’ in a gas station
Wind up workin’ in a gas station
Manny de Camper vants to buy some vite
(Wind up workin’ in a gas station
Wind up workin’ in a gas station)
(Fish!)
Manny de Camper vants to buy some vite
(Wind up workin’ in a gas station
Wind up workin’ in a gas station)
(Fish!)
Manny de Camper vants to buy some vite
(Wind up workin’ in a gas station
Wind up workin’ in a gas station)
(Fish!)
Manny de Camper vants to buy some vite
(Wind up workin’ in a gas station
Wind up workin’ in a gas station)
(Fish!)
Wind up workin’ in a gas station
Wind up workin’ in a gas station
Wind up workin’ in a gas station
Wind up workin’ in a gas station” -Frank Zappa
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Dan,
At least you didn’t post ALL the verses to Stairway to Heaven.
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As the Octomom said…
…*What was I thinking?*
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why not use computer chips instead of the finger reader… that way we can track the students too. If they go to class, where they are in the school..
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“why not use computer chips instead of the finger reader… that way we can track the students too. If they go to class, where they are in the school..”
Because we don’t need our kids used to being tracked by .gov
And this seems like a great way to spread disease as you know how kids are with washing their hands or doing anything responsible for that matter
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The program has good and bad points… I’m with SKIBONZAI on the point that systems like this devaluate the philosophy of CASH. In other words, to these people, money will simply be a number on a screen, with nothing tangible to compare it with. So those kids that have $20 on their food account to pay for 2 weeks of lunch run out of money by the end of week 1 because they wanted an extra burger, a milkshake, an extra slice of pizza, etc. Hey, after all, it was just a swipe of the finger… The same problem exists with Credit Cards. You want something, just swipe and it’s yours. Until it comes time to pay…
I do like the idea that they cannot lose the money, or have it stolen. But as for mis-appropriating the lunch money, the savvy student will buy their lunch, then resell it at a lower cash price, and take the money to use for whatever…
Without knowing the ins-and-outs of the program, what I think would be cool is if there is an on-line access to the system, so that parents can log in, check the student’s balance, see how the money is being spent (i.e. extra food), and even add funds. You figure the pay-as-you-go cell phone market has been doing this for a while, so it should be simple to impliment.
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Unless this is one bullet proof system with some kind of fantastic vandal proof finger reader, it’s going to spend down time during lunch.
I’d pay money to watch videos of people trying to figure out the tab with a pencil and paper!
And people really shouldn’t be so quick to give up their fingerprints without some kind of court order, or when you’re busted and got no choice.
And that fingerpad is gonna be one nasty little Petri dish of contagions after about 30 seconds of use.
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Is there really all that big a problem with an exchange of cash for these kids? If there is, maybe this should be addressed before they graduate and can’t buy a newspaper because they can’t read it for one, and don’t quit have the mechanics of paying for something, then receiving the proper change.
This sounds more like, fixing a problem that really isn’t there… well the problem is there, but a problem of some computer salesman not making his quota isn’t really a problem of the children.
I’d be way more concerned about wholesale collection of private fingerprint information, for use and distribution from who knows who, to, who knows who.
Once that stuff is out there, you aren’t getting it back.
Hey kids!
Show ‘em your thumb if you’re dumb!
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I am guessing that the biometric scanners that they are using are pretty much the standard model, and while they are BASED on fingerprints, they don’t actually STORE “fingerprints”, just a series of unique numbers derived from a finger swipe. Reportedly, the image that we associate with a fingerprint (ridges, swirls, etc.) cannot be reverse-created from that unique number once it is created.
I (as well as a lot of you) have a biometric fingerprint scanner on my laptop, and that is how it functions…
As for the ‘dirtyness’, those kids touch a lot more things in the course of their day than just the would-be scanner. Door knobs, desk tops, drinking fountain buttons, gym equipment, each other… One more thing is NOT going to make a difference!
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“I am guessing that the biometric scanners that they are using are pretty much the standard model, and while they are BASED on fingerprints, they don’t actually STORE “fingerprints”, just a series of unique numbers derived from a finger swipe.”
Well yeah…
But isn’t that like saying the image on your driver’s license isn’t actually a photograph, just the product of what is basically an algorithm that takes a series of 1’s and 0’s to produce something useful?
The difference in the fingerprint scanner on your computer and the one the kids use at school, is that you have control over the information you plug into your computer, more or less.
Tell my you won’t go out of your way to keep the electronic fingerprint data on your computer as private as possible.
As far as there being a more contaminated square inch in the entire city, I can’t think of anything, doorknob or toilet seat, that will have more people physically contacting it within such a short period of time, than a finger-pad that will be touched by hundreds of nose picking, hand sneezing, eye scratchers, in the period of a few minutes.
…in a time everyone’s freakin out over swine flu.
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EER71…
You seem to be a proponent of this new system, or at least you don’t seem to have a problem with it.
What is the upside to it?
As in, what problem is it solving?
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@Dan S…
In the instance of the digital picture on your DL, say you take all those little 1’s and 0’s, compress them through a series of mathmatical algorithms until it is a simple 10-digit number. At that point, it is pretty well unique to the individual picture, and that same number can be reproduced using the same original picture. However to run that same 10-digit number BACKWARDS through the algorithm, you may get something RESEMBLING the original picture, but it would be SO pixilated (you know, the blocky, rough images you sometimes see on the computer or LCD TVs) or distorted that it is not recognizable from it’s original form.
Germs… When I thing George Carlin summed that whole situation up for me (if you’re not familiar, google George Carlin Germs Youtube). For the general well-being, maybe they should put a bottle of sanitizer after the scanner and before the head of the serving line.
As for proponent/opponent… I’m pretty neutral on it, or at least cannot really decide. If I were to put my son in that position, I think I would enjoy the convenience and safety of the program (if executed properly). On the other hand, I think he needs to learn, understand, and respect the value of money.
And I would suspect that the problems being solved are 1) removing the stigma of being the poor kid having to call out for free or reduced lunch in front his or her school mates. This may not sound like much to you or I, but could possibly be an issue for kids. And 2) accounting - keeps all the records right on the computer and/or closing the door on the possiblility of inproprieties by workers (not that Elyria has any unsavory workers that would skim from the lunch program).
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The reader doesn’t store the fingerprint, the data base it checks does. More to fear than lunch money stolen….
https://ipmsupport.whs.mil/Public%20Site/PublicIDPM.html
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Oops… Must not have my coffee fully flowing through my veins yet. I meant to say “Germs… Well I think…“
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EER71…
I understand the concept behind taking an image/scan then processing that data to come up with a unique ‘fingerprint’, if you will, that can be used to identify the original image without duplicating the image.
However, I’m not as trusting as you seem to be, in that programmers for the corporations pushing this type of technology are not writing pretty simple code to store the raw data from the scan.
This data is valuable, and as I said, once it’s out there, you’re not getting it back. It takes just one time.
So… until this data is protected by something other than a contract, written by those producing the software and hardware, such as federal laws, then I prefer to err on the side of my paranoia.
A paranoia that makes me feel like I’m pulling the arm on a slot machine, when using paperless voting machinery.
But, it’s one thing to lose a vote, it’s something much more damaging to lose personal data.
And, I don’t think myself a germaphobe, however, when I’m at business events where it’s necessary to shake hands all day, I carry and use a small bottle of the waterless germ killer hand cleaner.
Hand cleaner is a small precaution, just like keeping my wallet in my pocket so that it’s not stolen.
Just as sticky finger employees stealing cash from the register in the lunch line should be dealt with, using precautions that don’t put the innocent at risk, no matter how minor that risk is perceived by some.
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I forgot to address the issue about some kids feeling bad, because they are given free lunches.
How about using having the children use untraceable debit cards that can have cash amounts added to the cards themselves, bypassing any type of database other than the cash amount data on the card itself?
This system could be used in conjunction with cash purchases for those who know how to count and aren’t stigmatized by having no cash, or ability to get an after school JOB IN ORDER TO BETTER THEMSELVES!
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First off, I like your idea about using a debit card-style swipers. It still gives them responsibility for keeping track of it physically, and keeps them ‘anonymous’ in the system. My second year at the University of Akron they implemented the “Zip Card” (our student ID with a mag-strip on the back) which was basically as you described, and it worked out pretty well…
Second, lets think about the fingerprint for a moment… Say an enterprising young programmer builds secret code to not only generate the useful unique identifier that is expected from the software, but also creates a backup of the actual fingerprint. What can ACTUALLY be done with that information on the streets? What OTHER information can be found from that picture of a fingerprint? It would need to exist in another database somewhere for it to be of value. And usually those databases will be GOVERNMENT in nature, and contrary to TV, they are nearly impossible to simply ‘hack’.
The truth is that the fingerprint is really worthless for frauds and scams to the average person. No one is going around PLANTING flase fingerprints at crime scenes. No one is creating fake fingertips to fool the authorities. And if someone REALLY wanted your fingerprint, they would get it from a glass, door knob, or whatever, rahter than hack it from the school lunch database…
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Is ‘flase’ really a word? I meant FAKE (lol)
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OK, I may have gone overboard a bit with the keeping my information private and off the black market, by stating that the fingerprint has much value.
Actually I’m more concerned about the government collecting this data to share with the massive fingerprint databases, both local and national.
Sure, they say, “Well if you don’t do anything wrong, you don’t have to worry.” To which I say, “Thank you very much, but until they sort things out, I’d rather keep my biometrics data to myself.”
Although, after our conversation here, I’m inclined to believe that, if, in the future, standards are set, so that biometric readers can be clearly marked as being ‘privacy protected,’ where they do all data conversions, from fingerprint image to identifying code, in a certified hardware, I’d be willing to use the things.
But I don’t see where anyone is going out of their way to set up enforceable standards to insure that fingerprint data isn’t passed on to the government.
And why would anyone even want to bring up the subject, when nobody’s doing anything about the illegal wiretapping still going on from the Bush administration.
I’m disappointed that Obama is just going to let that bad boy die, rather than kill it dead right now.
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@ Dan S.
Ah-ha… Now I think you may be drilling down to root of who may be really wanting to collect this kind of information on us - our own government. It isn’t so much that the data can be used to defraud us as much as it is that it could be used to MONITOR us. The same can be said about our use of credit, debit, or ATM cards. I know this sounds kind of conspiracy-theory-ish, but the government would be the only ones that could take this kind of information and actually use it, for good or for ill.
But the government collecting fingerprints also is nothing new, especially since 9/11. I have to be finger-printed annually at the Sheriff’s Department for a state-issued exhibitors license. I have to be finger-printed when I renew my HazMat permit Commercial Drivers License. School employees now have to be fingerprinted. God knows how many others professions need to be printed as well. And I nearly positive that those fingerprint records that you willfully submit for these checks don’t just get destroyed once the background check is completed… They are now attached to your permanent record FOREVER.
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