Biometrics not so flavoursome for school catering

Over on What Do They Know, a UK website for Freedom of Information requests (FOIR), there have been some requests made to schools about biometric systems used.

Some interesting figures are emerging.  For example, Falmouth School in Cornwall has a biometric system for school meals, the take up after asking for parental consent is 34%.  Only 355 children are using the biometrics system out of a school role of 1044.

The school recently put a plea out to parents to use the biometric system: "Please could I ask as many students as possible to register to pay using the biometric system." 

Falmouth School's appeal to parents for consent to
 their children's biometrics used for cashless catering

Another school, Honiton Community College, has a biometric system where only 628 pupils and parents have consented to their biometrics being used - a 68% take up rate, with 203 not consenting, 22% .  As there are 926 students on their schools role, quite what the remaining the remaining 95 children are doing for lunch is not detailed in the Freedom of Information request reply from the college - maybe they are opting for packed lunch?

So why are schools buying identification systems for food that are only 34% - 68% effective, then having by law, in the recent Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, to provide an alternative means of identifying oneself in order to access food - surely this is a waste of taxpayers hard earnt money?

Why don't kids use use money?  Children use money out of school... oh yes, according to schools, it encourages bullying apparently.  Does it really?

Are the Headteachers and Principles so incompetent that they cannot sort out bullying issues? - if there is really an issue here at all.  If a leader of a school has to resort to buying an inefficient technology in order to eliminate bullying in a lunch line should that Principle or Headteacher be in the job, as presumably they cannot sort out bullying elsewhere too?  Also is it not the duty of a healthy society to encourage children to know how to handle money, keep it safe, not steal other's money and behave responsibly around cash?

The argument for having biometric technology in schools is weakening.  Complaints need to to be made to schools Governors, who have a responsibility to spend the public's money wisely.  On the governments Audit Commission's website (Protecting the Public's Purse)  there is an booklet entitled - Fraud risks in schools advice for school governors where it states:

"School governors share a responsibility for protecting taxpayers’ money:  As a school governor you have a special additional role. As governors you are individually and collectively responsible for proper control of your school’s finances. The buck does not stop with the financial administrator."

Maybe, in these times of austerity, we need to start holding these governors to account, spending our money on biometric systems that are clearly not fit for purpose in a school environment.

Police Officer's views on fingerprinting children

Over on the School Governors Forum the discussion regarding using biometric systems in schools continues, now 11 pages long, with this recent comment posted by a Police Fingerprint Officer of 15+ years.

His post is quite extensive and is well worth a read. On the area of consent he has this to say:

As to consent, if you have not been asked explicitly for your signed consent to allow your child's prints to be taken, kick up a huge stink immediately. Even arrested persons are asked to sign consent to their prints being taken - they can be taken by force if not consented to but this is a very rare occurrence.Victims of crime etc can refuse to provide their prints for 'elimination purposes' (legitimate access etc) and that's it, they don't get taken...

...I would assume that before printing kids (especially under 10 - age of criminal responsibility) schools would have to provide a detailed and explicit set of guides, rules and exceptions for what purposes prints are taken, how and where they will be stored and a policy for their eventual destruction. Criminal prints have this so innocent persons should be at least as well governed. If this hasn't happened, as governors, make sure it does.

Contact the police for advice, all forces have lawyers to scrutinise the legality of new and emerging issues like this.

The forum is run "by governors for governors".

Only biometric registration to go!

Dyke House Secondary School in Hartlepool, Cleveland, have just spent £25,000 on a biometric finger scanner for its canteen. Yes, £25,000 for the sake of quicker queues - amazing!

More truthfully, the probable reason Dyke House puchased this technology is so that school managers and parents can monitor what their students are eating. But even so...£25,000?

Can the governors of the school really justify this huge amount of money simply to speed up the dinner lines? Governors are expected to provide good-quality schooling and spend public money wisely. £25,000 is certainly a lot of money to spend on catering technology and this on top of the cost of the biometric scanner they already have in their library.

I’m sure the money already spent could have been used in a way that children actually benefit from, rather than glitzy technology that probably works, certainly makes report generating easier but nevertheless costs the salary of a teacher. The deputy head and the pupils think the system is "fantastic" - but so is a 2 week holiday to the Seychelles or a nice car but it doesn't necessarily justify the cost.

Mind you, Dyke House Secondary School have just won a BECTA award in ICT...

Pointing way to hi-tech future

- TASTY school meals are just a fingertip away for children at a futuristic school.

Pupils at Dyke House Secondary School, in Hartlepool, are enjoying a hi-tech way of paying for their school meals. Instead of paying with standard swipe cards or money, they are using a biometric reading machine. It records unique details from the tips of their fingers which will be converted into a number which they can top up with money.

Deputy headteacher John Taylor said the scheme, which costs £25,000, was “fantastic.” He said: “The pupils can put their dinner money into the machine and it will automatically load into their account the same way a swipe card would work.” Mr Taylor said the pupils think the scheme is fantastic and really hi-tech. “You’d never believe schools would have things like this. “They don’t have to remember their swipe cards - it’s simple, the children can’t forget their fingers.”

He said: “We have been running a similar fingertip recognition system in our library to loan books. I’m almost certain we are the only school in the town to use such a machine.” Mr Taylor added that the lunch queue was now running much quicker and smoother thanks to the new system, which also helps to take away the stigma of which children are eligible for free meals.

Some advice for School Governors

Over on Leave Them Kids Alone website a new page has been set up dealing with the issues surrounding biometrics used in schools for their governors to consider.

"Over the past few months, we have been approached by a number of governors and head teachers and asked for our understanding of the matter; the following represents the position as far as we are aware. We have sought clarification from a number of leading QCs and barristers in producing these guidelines, and have used our best endeavours to cover as many of the relevant issues as possible."

On security and spending budgets there are some very valid points.

"Certainly a standard personal computer connected to a fingerprint scanner lying around in a school library would not generally be considered adequately protected.

Governors have a duty to obtain 'best value' for their delegated budget. So an argument could be made that spending significant sums of money on optional modules may not be the best way to use the delegated budget."

School governors, if they are consulted on purchases of a biometric technology (as I am aware of some circumstances when they have not been), need to think very carefully of the possible implications of having biometrics in schools.

The question has to be asked – Why is it left to Leave Them Kids Alone to advise governors? and well done to them for doing so... but where is the Governments advice on this?

Labour MP’s, as seen by answers given in Parliament this year, have no solid advice to offer at all to schools, parents or governors. The answers given by the government have been so flimsy that Tom Watson, a Labour MP, has called for advice from the DfES - see his petition.

As Janette Owen wrote in the Guardian only last week "We want information about fingerprinting - and we want it now. "