Welcome to the Future of Elementary School Lunches! Beginning September 8, 2015, the students at James R. Watson Elementary School will take part of a pilot program introducing finger scans as a means of lunch account access. Our hopes are to decrease the amount of time a student stands in the line while increasing the amount of time they get to eat. Each student’s finger scan is already in our program due to the use of this system in the district’s libraries. We will upload the finger scans into the lunch portion of the system, so no additional work is needed! Below are some frequent questions and answers in regards to the finger scan system we use called identiMetrics. How does finger scanning identification work? Here's how it works:

When the person returns to be identified, the finger is again scanned. The computer software now compares the new template with the other templates in the database. When a matching template is found, the person is identified. This identification and matching process takes under one second to complete. At no time is a fingerprint image ever stored and no fingerprints can be recreated from the template. Can my fingerprint be given to anyone else? No. There are no fingerprint images stored. Only encrypted numerical representations of the unique points of the fingerprint are stored. Can my fingerprint data be taken off the computer and used to re-create my fingerprint? No. identiMetrics never takes your fingerprint, only unique points. The actual fingerprint cannot be recreated from the encrypted template. Can my fingerprints be taken from the computer software and used on another fingerprinting system? No. identiMetrics uses a proprietary algorithm that can only be used with identiMetrics software. Can my fingerprints be copied or used by anyone else? No. It is impossible to duplicate or falsify fingerprints from the information stored in the identiMetrics software. Can I opt out of using the finger scan program? Yes, students will not be required to use their finger scan at the cash register. Although we will highly encourage students to participate, they may also access their lunch accounts by verbally telling the cashier their teacher’s name as well as their own name. Is this a new program? No, both our High School and Middle School use the same program during breakfast and lunch. If the pilot program at James R. Watson is successful, we intend on expanding the system to the other three elementary schools in the district. This would mean less time in line and more time to eat for all students in DeKalb Central Schools. We eagerly look forward to your participation and partnership in this new adventure.