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Phoenix school nixes biometric program

Friday, January 25, 2008

Espiritu Community Schools in Phoenix decided to use fingerprints to track school lunches so it could receive federal aid. But the school started collecting fingerprints from students before notifying parents.

Predictably, parents were concerned. “Since when does anyone have the right to fingerprint our children, especially without parents’ permission?” said Shirley Wallace.

The school has since canceled the program and caused n state senator to proposed legislation that would make it illegal for schools to collect biometrics from students.

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Personal information of 9,000 current and prospective students was inadvertently posted online by Valencia College in Orlando. The school has apologized for the mistake.

The information included the students’ names, addresses, dates of birth and student ID numbers but not their Social Security numbers or financial information.

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Washington D.C. high school and middle school students now need a DC One Card to ride the city’s transit system. The card is a single ID card that gives students access to most D.C. government programs and facilities, including recreation centers, libraries, and the Metro.

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With the implementation of its authentication security suite at Goldsworth Primary School, online identity protection provider Yubico has shown that its two-factor authentication and VPN connectivity are a viable solution in the education market.

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High schools in Jefferson County, W.V. will be implementing biometric finger scanning in an effort to provide security for the students’ cafeteria accounts. Purpose of the program, according to school officials, is to eliminate clerical errors and to provide students with an easy way to identify themselves when using the cafeteria.

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Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, Ill., is piloting a program that can track students on school buses. The goal is to increase safety while determining more efficient bus routes. The school rolled out the program in late January that provides each student with a card that the student uses as he enters or exits a school bus.

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The Huntsville, Ala. school district is conducting a pilot program that will track when and where students get on and off the bus. Currently, three schools–an elementary, middle and high school–are involved in the pilot.

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