School Cafeteria's Biometrics System Gets Good Grades

FSS, Altoona, Pa., is a regional software developer and systems integrator that creates POS systems for the hospitality industry, including public schools. The FSS POSitive ID System III is designed to run over a LAN or WAN using the TCP-IP protocol.

Floyd Stone, owner of Champion Cash Register, the Terre Haute, Ind.-based FSS solution provider partner that installed Tipton Elementary's biometric POS system, said most schools have already invested in a LAN or WAN.

"We set up a central database, and all the file manipulation can be done on the central database and downloaded to the point-of-sale terminal," he said. "That can be within the same building or in separate buildings in the school system."

The system runs on Windows 2000 with fractional T1 or better connectivity service, and Category 5 cabling must be run from the switch of the existing network.

Robyn Fulk, lunch clerk at Tipton Elementary, said one thing FSS' biometric POS system has helped the school do is resolve difficulties in accurately and discreetly keeping track of National School Lunch Program students and funds.

Lunch funding for public schools is an important financial issue, Fulk said. About 28 million eligible children receive lunch through the lunch program, which cost the federal government $6.8 billion in 2002. Close to $1 billion of that funding, however, bought lunches for ineligible children, according to the USDA.

The biometrics system, which has been in place for more than a year, helps eliminate problems associated with lost or forgotten ID cards, the exchange or fraudulent use of ID cards, and card issuing or replacement costs, Fulk said.

"The bookkeeping part of this system has been great,really accurate," she said. "Most of the kids love it. They think they're on 'Spy Kids.' This is really high-tech stuff for them."

Mitch Johns, president of FSS, said number pads, bar-code readers, accounting packages, digital photo and FSS FORMS (free or reduced meal software) are also integrated into the system along with the biometric scanner.

"This whole system runs realtime across the Internet, as opposed to most of my [competitors' solutions]," Johns said. "And we're operating on a standard PC platform, so that's a nonproprietary system."

The fact that the system is nonproprietary, and therefore is hardware-agnostic, is important because schools have access to a variety of discounted hardware such as PCs and touch-screen terminals and often make those purchases separately, Stone said. Pricing for the FSS system itself runs from about $4,000 to $6,000 per line (cashier).

Just three families, or five students out of a total of about 800, have opted not to participate in the program because of parental concerns about privacy and biometrics, Fulk said.

"[These] biometric images cannot be used by law enforcement or anyone else for identification purposes," said Johns. "When the student touches the screen, only a mathematical algorithm remains, not fingerprint images."

Fulk said the biggest challenge with the system has been ease of use for the youngest students. PINs or bar-code readers with photo ID systems are also available as alternatives to biometrics for POS systems, Johns said.

The FSS POS biometrics system can be expanded, at no additional cost, to handle time and attendance, event admission, parking lot security and the tracking of students riding on school buses.

Johns said FSS plans to continue developing biometrics solutions for this niche market with the goal of developing specific, separate solution packages for other markets, including universities, across the country.

Johns and Stone said they believe the system's success at Tipton Elementary will be repeated in other accounts.

"[Biometric scanning] is really the wave of the future," Stone said. "We think we're positioned well, and as soon as the public really understands there is no forensic print stored anyplace, I think it will catch on quickly."