"It raises sanitary issues, privacy issues -- it is kind of Orwellian," said Tina Dabby, a parent of two at Monte Vista Elementary. "It just sounds kind of creepy."
School administrators said the idea is to speed up the cafeteria line. The same information is currently handled with old-fashioned paper and then transferred to computer so that reports can be compiled.
Invasion of privacy? Yes. Violation of the Fourth Amendment? Not necessarily, I regret to say.
What are the competing interests? The school already gathers this information, just without a fingerprint. Parents voluntarily fingerprint their children in case of abduction. Kids in elementary school don't have a choice because of their age, and parents are not being asked for consent. Here, the school will likely use a single finger or thumb, like used at customs for visitors coming into the U.S., or the use of a finger to access a secure computer. Can the fingerprint stored in the school computer be used to investigate a crime? What are the internal restrictions on the use of the fingerprint? If none, the fingerprint may not be able to be used to investigate a crime later, even years later after the elementary school student has come of age to commit an offense for which he or she can be arrested.
Compare an employee of an airport working in a "sterile area" who has to use a fingerprint scan to open a door. The prison system in my home state has been using retina scans at some prisons to identify employees on entering and leaving the prison. With adults, they choose their jobs and thereby consent to the process. But, both of these examples involve adult employees who may have had to submit to a fingerprinting to get their job, so these may not be the best examples.
Orwellian? Definitely. Unconstitutional? One would hope, but not necessarily likely, depending on what internal safeguards there are or aren't.
