An elementary school in Owensboro is launching a program that uses a student’s fingerprint to keep count of meals served for breakfast and lunch.
Sutton Elementary is piloting the program of finger image recognition technology called Biometrics.
Kaitlyn Blankendaal is the food service supervisor for Owensboro Public Schools and said the goal is to give students more time to eat.
“Currently, when the students go through the breakfast and lunch lines they type in six-digit PIN number. This can kind of slow the kids down if they forget their number or they type in the wrong number. So essentially they’re going to be tapping and going. They’re going to tap their finger and then go and it’s going to put them through the line much faster.”
Blankendaal said the fingerprint scanning program is secure.
“With the fingerprint recognition that the Horizon point-of-sale software uses, the fingerprints cannot be recreated or replicated and they can’t be delivered to any agency, governmental or otherwise.”
She said the scanner has arrived at the school and the program will begin as soon as the software is set up.
All students in Owensboro Public Schools get free breakfast and lunch under a U.S. Department of Agriculture nutrition program based on community income guidelines. The meal count is needed so the district can be reimbursed through that federal Community Eligibility Program.
