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June 9, 2006

Area Schools Going Hi-Tech With ID's

http://cbs3.com/local/local_story_160154853.html

Mary Stoker Smith Reporting

(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA A hi-tech way is saving the day for some Philadelphia students and their teachers. No longer are students at the Visitation
School in Kensington taking time-consuming roll calls or carrying around school ID’s.

Mary Stoker-Smith reports on how students now let their fingers do the talking.

"It's just a scan of the finger and you're in,” said Mike DePasquale of Bio-Key International. All it takes is a swipe of a student's index finger and they're safely checked into school. "And because no two individuals have the same fingerprint, we can literally tell who an individual is at any one point in time,” added DePasquale.

Visitation's students from Pre-K thru eighth grade all took part in a two-year test of this hi-tech gadgetry and the results got big thumbs up.

"Well, it saves us much time,” said school principal, Dolores Egner.
"On a daily basis, it saves me at least an hour and a half,” explained school librarian, Rose Siegle.
Siegle monitors school attendance and says the scanners have made her life a whole lot easier.

“Because I don't have to run to the classes and get the attendance from the teachers, it is already on the computer,” said Siegle.

The students couldn't be happier.

"It's very futuristic to me,” said sixth grader, Thien Phan.

"It's pretty cool because it's convenient and every morning

when I come in I just scan and go sit down,” said seventh

grader, Thao Nguyen.

"It's cool because if you had an ID, I’d be afraid to lose it,” said Albert Velez, a seventh grader.

The system is already in two Philadelphia high schools.

"We're at Randolph High School and Robeson High School where they use us both for attendance and security as students come through the front door,” said Jay Fry, CEO of Identimetrics.

For some, just knowing your child has arrived safely to school can offer some peace of mind.

Almost 200 schools across the country are using this technology. It's used to check attendance, monitor lunchroom activity, check out library books and enroll on school buses.