Is HPISD Getting Big Brother-ish?
Parents are cheering all across HPISD now that students in 5th grade and above have a system similar to the elementary schools for lunch accounts. No need to have cash or remember a card, just enter your student ID on a little key pad, give the cashier your name, and off you go. Parents can add money to the account online, couldn’t be more convenient.
But several parents have told me that even if students pay with cash, kids are still required to enter a student ID and give their name. A few moms have said this is backing lunch lines up more than is necessary and others are saying it’s just a little Big Brother-ish.
I’m currently in opinion development phase. So far I’m not certain that I care about this but I’m waiting to hear back from the HPISD communications guru, Helen Williams. She’ll have a super good reason, not just that parents want to see what their kids ate for lunch. BTW, what does my kid eat?
Monday– 08/23/10 Soft Serve $1.00 1 $1.00 $1.00
Tuesday– 08/24/10 Milk $0.50 3 $1.50 Brkfast Bar $0.75 Roll $0.50 1 $0.50
My child said it definitely backed up the line. She also was concerned with privacy and theft because their student ID number is used for so many things at school.
Stealing is VERY easy since a child can overhear the number of another child and use it without permission.
This actually happened at Bradfield about 7 years ago with the automated system. A first grader was using an older girl’s number. The child got away with it until one of the cashiers knew both the 1st grader and the older girl. Bradfield had 500 kids. HPMS has 2000 kids. It would be so easy to do.
This is the direct result of increases in the ability of parents to (micro)manage elementary cafeteria purchases. In the last 10 years or so, the elementary schools have gone from cash only to having a system that didn’t need money, to being able to place $ limits per day, to being able to block specific foods, to being able get full access online to their kids’ purchases. I’ve been gone for a few years so maybe it can do even more things. It’s what parents now expect.
My children said they are looking up the name to make sure it matches the number.
Why can’t we have a system where students use their student id with a pin code to make payments?
I do love the no cash system and my children (high school, and HPMS) said it makes it easier not to dig for cash. In theory this should make it faster but so far it hasn’t.
My private school was set up that way back in 2001…never had a problem with it.
Lines are always slower at the beginning of a new school year. New items, rookie cashiers, and we’re all a bit rusty after 3 months of vacation. The process of bringing POS systems into the middle and high schools has been slow and always had it’s detractors, but we have learned from our experiences at the elementary level and it is time for this technology at the high school. In regard to identity theft, the system at the high school will display the student’s picture on the cashier’s screen once an i.d # is entered. No match, no sale. The issue of cash sales slowing things down can always be assessed and changes made if necessary. Getting a student’s opinion would be nice. Bringing change to our district is not always easy and my utmost appreciation goes to Joan Bayes, Kirsten Schorsch, Ann Spillman and all the others involved in making this transition possible. In the meantime, do you think Merritt needs to have a little discussion at dinner regarding proper nutrition?
At least at the high school, we just type in our student ID. I guess technically you could watch carefully and then use it again, but I feel like their system should have some sort of alert when that person has already bought food that day. It definitely is holding up lines though. 5th period lunch is always the biggest just because it’s at the most normal time to eat, and the lines this year are absolutely ridiculous. I have resorted to bringing my lunch for the rest of the week, and hoping that it starts to clear out in the next week or so.
@Beverly on a Budget- he swears he ate pizza but must not have been charged for it. Not that a pizza thrown in with a soft serve and a roll is any better. I packed a lunch for him on Monday just in case he didn’t want to deal with the lines. Today I remembered to ask him if he was glad he had it for the first day with the long lines etc. He said, “Yeah, I guess, here it is.” IT WAS IN HIS BACKPACK! It’s WEDNESDAY! ICK!!! But that’s another matter:)
The lines today at the HS were alot shorter- the kids and the moms are getting used to the system. I think it will eventually speed up the wait. As a long time cashier- I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it!
Kudos to E, Merritt and everbody packing a lunch, being patient and teaching your children how to make change!
Note to Brenda Vardell at HPMS/MIS: Charge Merritt for a piece of pizza.
My concern is still privacy. That number is used as their password for getting on computers at the school. Just because they are looking at the name doesn’t make it safe.
Lines were short? Really –
butI don’t think people are upset about bringing the system into the tech age… it’s that kids who chose to bring cash still have to enter the system. Weird. Have a cash only line or something! It should be the parents choice to be in the system or not.
I guess they will be able to link your diet to your grades to your health, and make a venn diagram on skyward to find trends in our kids. Amazing marketing you could do with that data.
Is Skyward selling the data? How do we know? Are our childrens names still attached? At the elementary schools we had the option to use cash and have an anonymous transaction. Also, that system used the student’s name – there was no issue of security of their school documents on the mainframe nor of access to their grades on the gradebook viewer.
im a student at the high school. im not a freshman so i have been in the cafeteria over the years. the new system sucks. they DO NOT have a picture that appears when we pay with the system. so yes people can use another students id number in theory. and it is AWFUL waiting in those lines.