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Hoping to build on the success of the biometric finger scan pilot program which began earlier this year, Maureen Faron, district food service supervisor, announced the program will be expanded to three more schools next year.

Faron said the program assigns an identification number to a student, according to the ridges of the fingerprints. The print, or scan, acts like a debit card, deducting money for the student's lunch from an existing account.

The program has been used at the high school and McDowell Elementary School. Faron said 361 students at McDowell and 371 at the high school enrolled in the program.

Faron told the Board of Education April 27 that she wants to expand the program to East Woods, Ellsworth Hill and Evamere schools, and broaden the program at the high school.

The cost would be $25,500, which would purchase 17 new scanners at $1,500 each, Faron said. A 10 percent discount would be available if the remaining scanning units are purchased at one time, she added.

The money will come from the food service fund, according to Faron.

So far, the district has spent $3,000 to install the program at the high school and McDowell.

However, Faron said, the program saves both time and money wasted by students and teachers to remake lost or stolen identification cards.

She said it costs an elementary school student $5 for a replacement card. A replacement card costs a high school student $15. And Faron said staff members spend about two hours each day replacing student cards.

Faron said parental feedback bad been very positive, and safety is not an issue because the prints are not kept or stored.

"Our system is closed and it is secure," Faron said. "And there are layers of security built in."

She said the data kept is not a "forensic" but an algorithm.

"It cannot be duplicated, lost or stolen, and it ensures a unique identification mechanism," she said.

Faron said the biometric scanning process can also be used in other areas, including for identification purposes when parents pick children up at HCER programs.

"This type of technology is right for what we do, but it is not exclusive to what we do," she said.

Board member Gary Mushock said the feedback he has gotten from students on the program is that "it's really cool and they like it."