3 Calif. Schools to Fingerprint Students
Pastor Dale Morgan
3 Calif. Schools to Fingerprint Students*
Sunday November 5, 2006 10:01 AM
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) - A plan to fingerprint elementary school
students when they buy lunch has some parents worrying that Big Brother
has come to the cafeteria.
The Hope Elementary School District has notified parents that, beginning
this month, students at Monte Vista, Vieja Valley and Hope elementary
schools will press an index finger to a scanner before buying cafeteria
food.
The scan will call up the student's name and student ID, teacher's name
and how much the student owes, since some receive government assistance
for food.
It is meant to speed up cafeteria lines.
``It raises sanitary issues, privacy issues - it is kind of Orwellian,''
said Tina Dabby, a parent of two at Monte Vista Elementary. ``It just
sounds kind of creepy.''
Currently, the information is written on paper and transferred to
computer so reports can be compiled and sent to the state and federal
governments, which reimburse school districts for the subsidized lunches
served.
``It's so archaic to transfer something from a sheet of paper to a
computer day by day,'' Hope schools Superintendent Gerrie Fausett told
the Santa Barbara News-Press.
A similar procedure is already in use in the Santa Barbara School
Districts, where students punch a six-digit number into a keypad that
calls up their name, photograph and other details, including whether
they have any food allergies.