For Lunch?

I received this email today from Booker's school, and it kind of weirded me out.

Beginning with the 2012 - 2013 school year, in an effort to improve efficiency and accelerate the movement of lunch lines in our school, we will implement biometric technology in our cafeteria. This means that on a daily basis, your child’s finger will be scanned as he walks through the line, and the system will then automatically debit his lunch account through Skyward for charges incurred. This eliminates the possibility of human error in our existing double-entry process currently used in our school lunch line.

This new process will begin with enrollment, when your child’s finger is first scanned for measurements. From these measurements, the system creates a numeric identifier that represents these measurements and is unique to your child. The fingerprint image is not stored in the system, and the system is one directional, so there is no way to reverse the process to recreate the fingerprint.

Not only will having these finger scanners help with lunchroom efficiencies, but they will allow us the opportunity to make fewer mistakes in charging accounts, and will also make it less likely for a student to allow another student access to his account.