Hand Scanners to Keep Tabs on Students at Boca Middle School
by Lois K. Solomon
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel
BOCA RATON · When teachers take attendance at a new middle school next month, they won't need a notebook or even a piece of paper.
They can depend on biometric hand readers to do the job.
The little black boxes, which take less than a second to identify students based on the dimensions of their hands, will be placed in all 61 classrooms, the cafeteria, main office and media center at Don Estridge High Tech Middle School, which will open Aug. 11 at Spanish River Boulevard and Military Trail.
The technology also will be on Don Estridge school buses so the school can monitor who gets on and off at each stop.
"We are a testing ground for this new technology," said Jim Kelly, Palm Beach County schools' police chief. "It's like an ID card for kids, but they won't be able to lose them."
The machines store a mathematical equation, but not a picture, for each hand, making them different from electronic fingerprint systems typically associated with federal law enforcement agencies, Kelly said.
Don Estridge joins a small group of schools and universities using the high-tech tool to keep track of students.
At Eagan High School in Eagan, Minn., students check out library books using electronic hand scans.
>The hand scans of students at 18 Akron, Ohio, middle and high schools are read each day instead of using meal tickets in the cafeteria.
At the Johnson & Wales University campus in Denver, hand sensors are used instead of keys to allow students into their dorms.
The technology also identifies employees at banks, hospitals, ports and apartment complexes.
Don Estridge is a choice school, designed to use the latest technology to teach traditional subjects. Students must apply to attend.
Some Palm Beach County residents and privacy advocates have criticized the new school for its many "Big Brother" technology gadgets, such as video cameras in its classrooms. But electronic hand readers sink schools to a new low, said Beth Givens, director of the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
"The kids will always be looking over their shoulder as they get older," Givens said. "Instead of taking common-sense measures such as locking doors or monitoring the halls, schools are going to extreme measures. It gives a false sense of security."
The school's grand opening was Wednesday.
Don Estridge Principal Debra Johnson said she sees the hand readers as a time-saver as much as a security measure. Teachers spend precious minutes each morning taking attendance. And she said she has spent many hours on the phone with parents whose children did not get off the bus on schedule. With the hand readers, the school will know if they got on the bus and where they got off, she said.
"We'll be able to say, `Johnny got off the bus at 10th and Dixie,' and the parent will say, `Oh, that's where my aunt lives,'" she said.
Johnson said she sees the hand readers' potential use at other sites at the school, such as checking in at the nurse's office and dispensing medication. School volunteers could log in using hand scans instead of sign-in sheets, she said.
The hand readers were donated by Ingersoll-Rand as part of its "Try-Me" program, company spokeswoman Cindy English said. The company typically donates the readers, valued at more than $2,000 each, to day-care centers to identify employees and people who are allowed to pick up children. The company monitors how well the programs work to see what parts need improvement.
The hand readers take 90 measurements of each person's hand. English said the boxes develop a mathematical equation for each hand based on length, width, thickness and surface area. The machines are calibrated to maintain people's identities even if they lose weight or grow, she said.
Don Estridge parent Maureen Sales said she is familiar with the school's plans for the gadgets and supports them.
"It's for the teachers' protection as well as the kids'," said Sales, whose two sons will attend the school. "My kids are telling everyone about it. They think it's so high-tech, so FBI, so cool."
by Lois K. Solomon
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel
BOCA RATON · When teachers take attendance at a new middle school next month, they won't need a notebook or even a piece of paper.
They can depend on biometric hand readers to do the job.
The little black boxes, which take less than a second to identify students based on the dimensions of their hands, will be placed in all 61 classrooms, the cafeteria, main office and media center at Don Estridge High Tech Middle School, which will open Aug. 11 at Spanish River Boulevard and Military Trail.
The technology also will be on Don Estridge school buses so the school can monitor who gets on and off at each stop.
"We are a testing ground for this new technology," said Jim Kelly, Palm Beach County schools' police chief. "It's like an ID card for kids, but they won't be able to lose them."
The machines store a mathematical equation, but not a picture, for each hand, making them different from electronic fingerprint systems typically associated with federal law enforcement agencies, Kelly said.
Don Estridge joins a small group of schools and universities using the high-tech tool to keep track of students.
At Eagan High School in Eagan, Minn., students check out library books using electronic hand scans.
>The hand scans of students at 18 Akron, Ohio, middle and high schools are read each day instead of using meal tickets in the cafeteria.
At the Johnson & Wales University campus in Denver, hand sensors are used instead of keys to allow students into their dorms.
The technology also identifies employees at banks, hospitals, ports and apartment complexes.
Don Estridge is a choice school, designed to use the latest technology to teach traditional subjects. Students must apply to attend.
Some Palm Beach County residents and privacy advocates have criticized the new school for its many "Big Brother" technology gadgets, such as video cameras in its classrooms. But electronic hand readers sink schools to a new low, said Beth Givens, director of the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
"The kids will always be looking over their shoulder as they get older," Givens said. "Instead of taking common-sense measures such as locking doors or monitoring the halls, schools are going to extreme measures. It gives a false sense of security."
The school's grand opening was Wednesday.
Don Estridge Principal Debra Johnson said she sees the hand readers as a time-saver as much as a security measure. Teachers spend precious minutes each morning taking attendance. And she said she has spent many hours on the phone with parents whose children did not get off the bus on schedule. With the hand readers, the school will know if they got on the bus and where they got off, she said.
"We'll be able to say, `Johnny got off the bus at 10th and Dixie,' and the parent will say, `Oh, that's where my aunt lives,'" she said.
Johnson said she sees the hand readers' potential use at other sites at the school, such as checking in at the nurse's office and dispensing medication. School volunteers could log in using hand scans instead of sign-in sheets, she said.
The hand readers were donated by Ingersoll-Rand as part of its "Try-Me" program, company spokeswoman Cindy English said. The company typically donates the readers, valued at more than $2,000 each, to day-care centers to identify employees and people who are allowed to pick up children. The company monitors how well the programs work to see what parts need improvement.
The hand readers take 90 measurements of each person's hand. English said the boxes develop a mathematical equation for each hand based on length, width, thickness and surface area. The machines are calibrated to maintain people's identities even if they lose weight or grow, she said.
Don Estridge parent Maureen Sales said she is familiar with the school's plans for the gadgets and supports them.
"It's for the teachers' protection as well as the kids'," said Sales, whose two sons will attend the school. "My kids are telling everyone about it. They think it's so high-tech, so FBI, so cool."
