The new practice drew some concern, but officials said parents can opt out.
The York City School District has registered children at three schools for a new cafeteria payment system that scans students' fingers to access their accounts, and the district will roll out the system in other schools next year.
In May, Jackson Elementary School parent Tyease Turner raised concerns about students' finger images being registered without parental consent, after her daughter texted her that morning, saying registration was to occur there.
At the time, the district said the issue was a matter of lack of information, and they would communicate with parents again.
Tamara Willis, assistant superintendent for K-8 education, said Tuesday that after the parental concerns expressed at Jackson, registration for the system was halted for the year. The district will roll out registration at Jackson and the other schools next year.
At the three schools that did register students, she said, parents were given the option of opting out. Their students will continue using pin numbers. It's not something the district encourages, since it will take longer for students to retrieve their lunch account information, she said.
Joseph Otranto, the district's food service director, told the school board Monday that students were registered at Devers, Davis and McKinley elementary schools.
He said that 1,275 children were registered, and the parents of 250 students opted out. That's a bit higher
opt-out rate than other districts using the system have experienced, he said.
Otranto told the school board that four sets of parents came in to see the system, some bringing their children. After seeing it, two elected to register their children because the system was "not what they had been led to believe," he said.
District officials have emphasized that the system is not fingerprinting. A letter to parents said the system doesn't store any images permanently, and that the image is made up of more than 16 pressure points converted into a mapped template, stored as a series of random numbers and letters that are linked to a student's number in the point-of-sale system.
Otranto said a handful of teachers and one board member have registered for the system. He said he will be working with administrators on a plan for the next school year.
Summer meals
The York City School District, along with the York City Parks and Recreation Department, will again run a summer lunch program, offering free meals to kids.
Lunches will be served at 12 enrolled sites, like day care centers or others with summer programs, and one open site at William Penn Senior High School, according to Joseph Otranto, the district's food service director.
The walk-in program at William Penn will be offered for students 18 and younger Monday through Thursday, excluding holidays, from June 24 to Aug. 1, from 10:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., according to a notice on the district website.
Otranto said the district is adding some efforts to market the program this year. In addition to promotions through radio and print media, the school principals will be making announcements before school ends, and automated phone calls will be made to families before the program begins.
