Mississippi schools consider fingerprint scanners

A school district in Mississippi is considering installing biometric fingerprint scanners at its cafeterias to identify students.

Tupelo School District officials are currently debating a proposal to use biometrics instead of the existing system which relies on student ID numbers to pull up account information regarding school breakfasts and lunches.

Lynne Rogers, Tupelo School District’s director of food services, says that the biometric system would be more accurate and make lines flow more quickly, ultimately contributing to increased student performance.

In a presentation to the school board last week, Rogers argued that by making meals more efficient, children would have more time to eat thereby increasing their academic performance.

“If we give students more time to eat, we have improved our services to students and parents,” she said. “If we are able to feed more kids at breakfast, they will be better prepared for school.”

According to Rogers the machines would be most helpful for elementary school breakfasts. Young elementary school children often forget their identification numbers and during breakfast, students come at random, rather than by homeroom like for lunch.

In nearby Coahoma County, officials implemented a similar biometric system and as a result children now have as much as ten additional minutes to eat.

The machines cost $475 each, and the district would need to spend $12,350 to install the biometric devices at all twenty-six of its food stations.

Rogers said the scanners would not store data on student fingerprints and instead scan a student’s finger using several points for identification.

Under the proposed plan, parents would have the option to opt their children out of the fingerprint system and continue to use their ID numbers.