The way Centralia Jr. High students get lunches will change in Fall.
Centralia City Schools Superintendent David Rademacher says the school will begin using a biometric scanner to identify students and keep track of their lunch "tickets." Students place a finger or thumb on the scanner which recognizes them and accesses their lunch information. The system does not scan fingerprints, but rather biological traits. Rademacher says such a system has advantages over a ticket or card system. "Kids lose their card or they accidentally send it through the laundry, so you have to make new cards," he says. "With this scanning device, that won't be necessary."
Rademacher says tickets can also be misused if lost or stolen - a problem that would be eliminated with a biometric scanner. The Superintendent says the system is working well at Nashville and North Clay schools and will be a pilot program for other Centralia Grade Schools. Rademacher says the program will have a start up cost. "We are thinking it will be around four-thousand dollars for two scanners and the software that we need to take the information from the lunch program and scan it into our administrative software," he says.
Rademacher says if the program expands into the other schools, the District will only have to purchase new scanners at about 16-hundred dollars a piece. The Superintendent says the biometric system should pay for itself over the years by eliminating materials like cards and also reducing time spent by staff doing lunch paperwork.
Rademacher says the only downside reported about the scanning machines is that younger children grow quickly and may be required to scan their information into the system every year. He says it's likely older students, like those in Jr. High, will only have to input their information once.
Centralia City Schools Superintendent David Rademacher says the school will begin using a biometric scanner to identify students and keep track of their lunch "tickets." Students place a finger or thumb on the scanner which recognizes them and accesses their lunch information. The system does not scan fingerprints, but rather biological traits. Rademacher says such a system has advantages over a ticket or card system. "Kids lose their card or they accidentally send it through the laundry, so you have to make new cards," he says. "With this scanning device, that won't be necessary."
Rademacher says tickets can also be misused if lost or stolen - a problem that would be eliminated with a biometric scanner. The Superintendent says the system is working well at Nashville and North Clay schools and will be a pilot program for other Centralia Grade Schools. Rademacher says the program will have a start up cost. "We are thinking it will be around four-thousand dollars for two scanners and the software that we need to take the information from the lunch program and scan it into our administrative software," he says.
Rademacher says if the program expands into the other schools, the District will only have to purchase new scanners at about 16-hundred dollars a piece. The Superintendent says the biometric system should pay for itself over the years by eliminating materials like cards and also reducing time spent by staff doing lunch paperwork.
Rademacher says the only downside reported about the scanning machines is that younger children grow quickly and may be required to scan their information into the system every year. He says it's likely older students, like those in Jr. High, will only have to input their information once.
