Rome High And Middle To Use Fingerprints To Access Lunch Account.
Rome’s Middle and High schools will be getting a thumbs down on school lunches soon, literally.
The Schools are installing a fingerprint identification system that will identify students for the purpose of accessing their lunch money account.
The system reads students’ fingerprints with an optical sensor and relays the information to a computer, where students’ accounts are charged.
Such biometric technology, which measures physical characteristics and uses them as a form of identification, are being used at a growing number of school districts. Some use finger scans to dispense medicine, take attendance, check out books in the library or ensure that bus-riding students get off at the right stop.
The system doesn’t use actual fingerprints, only finger scans that measure points on the print. The actual fingerprint is never stored in the centralized database. The points from the print are converted into a mathematical equation in the computer. The machine converts the finger scans into algorithms, essentially a batch of numbers that is compared with later finger scans.
Since the system uses points on the finger print and not the actual fingerprint, it can not be stolen.
Previously the schools used a system that involved access codes which could be easily stolen. That system is no longer in use.
No word on when the system will be up and running.
