Fingerprint technology acquired for Licking Heights’ five schools in Pataskala, Ohio, is aimed at moving students through lunch lines faster, along with reducing errors.

The fingerprint scanner from identiMetrics will require students to use their fingerprints to pull up accounts as they proceed through the lunch line. Currently they punch in student ID numbers onto a key pad. The system will go into effect next school year.

A $5,000 grant from the American Dairy Association and National Football League through their joint Fuel Up to Play 60 program was secured to help defray the expense, said Food Service Director Ginger Parsons. She said it is estimated that students will be able to move through lunch lines up to 30% faster.

The system will also reduce errors, such as students entering the wrong number on the keypad. The system has other uses as well, such as keeping track of medications in the schools’ clinics.

“You can also use it to know, for security, who is in your building,” she said. “It’s not just to speed up the lunch line, although that will be a big help for us.”

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