The cafeteria fingerprint scanners at the middle school have raised concerns about privacy and security among students. Students began scanning their fingerprints on Monday, Jan 27, but many continued to use their ID’s.
“Any time you introduce a new system there are going to be questions, especially around privacy,” said Chief Information Officer Dan Alig. That’s why we’ve tried to be really clear that we are not storing actual fingerprints- just the encrypted templates that can’t be reverse engineered.”
The programming team integrated the scanners into Didax, the system that tracks student purchases. When a student scans their finger, the system picks up on a few points and converts them into a number which is linked to their student ID in Didax. The next time they scan, the system checks for a match and the transaction is completed.
“The biggest [positive] is definitely efficiency,” said Alig. “Students don’t have to dig around for an ID card or worry about leaving it at home – they can just scan their finger, and they’re good to go.”
A major problem identified by Head of Middle School Jon Wimbish, was the problem of students not being able to use their phones to scan their IDs, and students losing and forgetting their cards. Head of Communications and Strategic Initiatives Ari Engelberg ’89, found the fingerprint scanners which they decided to use. The process of creating the scanning system has been going on for a while, making sure it meets all security standards.
“Just a faster, easier way for students to check out,” said Alig. “So far, about 70% of middle school students have enrolled…Because things have gone so well at the middle school, we’re now starting the process of setting it up at the Upper School.”
