Tallmadge City Schools Business Manager Steve Wood said the same biometrics finger scanners being used by students at Tallmadge High School to pay for lunches are expected to become the new norm at Tallmadge Middle School in spring 2011.
"I'm really excited about it," said Tallmadge Middle School Principal Rob Kearns. "It's a big convenience factor for students and parents."
To pay for lunch, students simply scan their fingerprint on the biometrics and that child's information appears on a computer.
Funds are loaded onto student's EZpay accounts by their parents, and that money is used to cover lunch costs.
"So far, parents and students have embraced it," Wood said. "It's gone very, very well."
Tallmadge High School Principal Rebecca DeCapua said the high school has been using the biometrics since the new school was completed in 2008.
Wood and DeCapua said the scanners, now coupled with the convenience of EZpay, provide a very convenient service that benefits students, parents and faculty alike.
DeCapua said the scanners are helpful to faculty and students because the lunch lines move much quicker without tangible dollars and cents exchanging hands, which also promotes sanitation.
"It makes things move much faster," she said, "and gives kids extra time to eat food and visit with friends as oppose to standing in cafeteria lines."
DeCapua also explained how the scanners allow children to go through the cafeteria line on an equal basis, too, because students eligible for free or reduced lunches aren't singled out with any distinction; they simply scan their prints and move along like everyone else.
DeCapua said the feedback from students and parents is overwhelmingly positive, noting that students appreciate being able to move faster and not carry around money, and parents enjoy the convenience of simply loading funds online through EZpay.
Superintendent Jeff Ferguson, a father of four with one in high school, said as a parent, he appreciates the ease and security of paying for his son's lunch through the combination of the biometrics and EZpay.
As a busy parent, he said, it can be easy to forget to send your child along with cash for lunch, which creates a lot of inconvenience.
"It's nice to be able to pop on the computer and go on EZpay and say 'There will be money on the account when you get to school today,'" said Ferguson.
Unlike cash, students aren't going to lose or misplace their fingerprints, which means no lost lunch money; yet another benefit of the system highlighted by Ferguson.
Kearns said almost every day parents rush to the school to get lunch money to their kids because it was lost or forgotten, which is bound to happen sometimes.
"Kids are kids," said Kearns. "Kids lose money."
Wood noted how the scanners are beneficial to the cafeteria as a business because the digital setup allows the school to track what students are buying, which in turn allows the school to examine trends in eating and spending and ultimately provide the best variety of items the kids want and are also good for them.
The primitive cash-exchanging protocol doesn't allow for that kind of tracking, which Wood added is useful for parents also to monitor what their kids are spending money on.
Although specific foods may not be listed, the prices are recorded, and those figures are indicative of what items the money paid for.
The school also receives government funding through the National School Lunch Program, which entitles schools that provide traditional meals with bread, meat, vegetables and milk to more money.
The digital tracking of food items allows the schools to show proof of their providing balanced meals.
Wood said the whole biometrics system costs between $20,000 and $30,000, which covers the entire setup and two finger scanners.
The high school's biometrics were included in the building's budget, but the funds for the middle school's system will come from the permanent improvement funds section of the school budget.
Ferguson said the school will gauge the success of the biometrics in the middle school and use that information to create a similar EZpay driven system for the primary schools.
EZpay, he said, is expected to be used at the primary schools by the start of the next school year.
Ferguson and Wood both noted that children below fifth grade have hands and fingerprints too small to work effectively with the system.
Therefore, Ferguson said, the schools are still considering alternative ways to re-configure their cafeteria payment protocol at the elementary schools, but they have yet to identify exactly how.
Kearns, however, said he is very excited to see the biometrics make their way into the cafeteria so the middle school can enjoy the benefits of this modern technology.
The big picture, though, is creating better and more convenient services for the families.
"The biggest goal is to benefit our students and parents," Kearns said, "and I think this definitely meets that."
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Jeremy Nobile
Quelle/Source: Tallmadge Express, 28.11.2010
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