District Administration - December 2012 - (Page 14)

NewsUpdate Healthy Lunch Backlash Students nationwide are protesting the new nutritional guidelines for school lunches that went into effect this year thanks to the Healthy, HungerFree Kids Act of 2010. From parody videos to cafeteria strikes, students are speaking out against the smaller, healthier portions, which include almost twice as many fruits and vegetables as last year, and less saturated fat and sodium. They are hungry, they say, and the healthy options aren’t tasty, leading some to discard their fruits and veggies. Despite their cries, the portion sizes are big enough for most students (except for some, like active athletes), and in time, they will begin to embrace the meals, says Jessica Donze Black, project director for the Kids’ Safe & Healthful Foods Project. The project was created in 2011 to provide nonpartisan analysis and evidence-based recommendations for school foods, and ensure the provisions of the law are enforced. High school students are served up to 850 calories per meal, while middle schoolers can have no more than 700 calories, and elementary school students, 650 calories. Though there were previously no maximums, the calorie counts are not unusual. The USDA’s most recent school nutrition assessment in 2007 found the average high school lunch was 857 calories. “School lunch is intended to provide one-third of the average child’s nutritional needs,” says Donze Black. “Now, [the calories] are just coming from different places.” Considering that one in three students is overweight or obese and at an increased risk for heart disease and diabetes, the new guidelines are a vital step toward healthier schools, she adds. While the USDA has been setting standards for school meals since 1946, this is the first update in 17 years, designed to ensure school meals are on par with today’s nutritional needs. Students who do need more food, like competitive athletes, can supplement their lunch with a la carte options or snacks from home, or participate in the breakfast and after-school meal programs, Donze Black says. Br iefings Replacing Lunch Money with Hand Scanners Gone are the days of crumpled bills at Carroll County Public Schools in Baltimore, Md. A cafeteria sales system implemented this school year uses a high-tech infrared hand scanner to access student accounts with pre-deposited money, to speed up time spent in the lunch line. However, some parents are concerned with their child’s security, especially since they were not informed of the change until the scanners were already in place. The scanners are used so the electronic cash register can access information from a student database and account. Parents can pre-pay for meals, and check their child’s balance and purchases online, and limit snack purchases if they choose. This point-of-sales system has been used in schools for over 20 years, and accounts were previously accessed with cards or PIN pads, according to Karen Sarno, the Carroll County supervisor of food services. The scanner is the next step in the technology’s evolution, she adds, and will allow for four to six-plus transactions per minute (an average of 25 students moving through the line every five minutes), rather than the prior rate of three transactions per minute, giving students more time to eat lunch. The scanner, called PalmSecure, examines a few points on a student’s hand and converts them into a numeric algorithm that is stored in the computer. Sarno says that there is no way to store the actual print, as the scan is immediately deleted after the matching algorithm is created, so only the algorithm stays in the system. “There is no image that could erroneously or otherwise be shared with anyone,” Sarno says. “We thought it was reasonable to give it a chance to get better line speed and overcome the challenges of students losing cards or pin numbers.” Despite this reassurance, at the time of this writing, between 3 percent and 15 percent of parents opted out at each of the five Carroll County schools that now use PalmSecure, Sarno says, some in fear of their children’s information being accessed by someone outside of school in the future. Some parents also believe the scanners will make it harder for young children to recognize privacy threats outside of school, and easily submit to fingerprinting or giving information to unsafe sources. Instead of scanning their hands, these students will give the cashier their names to access their accounts manually. Sarno said the district will give parents more notice before they install the system in a new school. The district also has a webpage with details. The PalmSecure system is used in schools nationwide, and was first implemented in a Florida district last year. Created by the Japanese information and communication technology company Fujitsu, PalmSecure is also used in the healthcare field (for patient registration and staff attendance), banking (for accessing accounts without an ATM card), and other businesses. It is planned to be in all 43 Carroll County schools by December 2013. To learn more about PalmSecure, visit www.fujitsu.com/global/services/solutions/biometrics. 14 December 2012 District Administration http://www.fujitsu.com/global/services/solutions/biometrics http://www.fujitsu.com/global/services/solutions/biometrics

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - December 2012

District Administration - December 2012
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Special Education
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Fab Lab: Using Technology to Make (Almost) Anything!
Neuroscience in Schools
Three Squares at School
Top 100 DA Readers Choose Innovative Products of the Year
CIO News
Problem Solution
Crisis Response
Online Edge
Going Mobile

District Administration - December 2012