At the beginning of school last year, our teachers’ cafeteria was closed… so if we wanted lunch, we had to get it from the same place the students did. That meant longer lines during an already-short lunch period… (not to mention 3289423 awkward interactions with students).

But I wouldn’t mind that much if we took a page from a school in Louisiana and found a way to speed up the whole lunch-buying process:

Moss Bluff Elementary School in Louisiana is looking to streamline lunch payments by implementing a palm vein scanner program… … Florida’s Pinellas Schools were the first to adopt palm scanning technology to pay for lunch last fall under a voluntary program. The technology uses infrared light to read unique vein patterns connected to meal plans. “It’s two seconds to buy a meal. Literally, two seconds,” Edward Rutenbeck, senior user support analyst with Pinellas Schools Food Services told WTSP.

COOL! Plus, it’ll help schools collect money from unpaid lunch fees, which is a big deal. Parents can opt out of the system if they feel uncomfortable with it, but it sounds like a win-win!

… unless you’re crazy and you want to transfer your children to another school because this technology is evil:

“I was very, very mad,” said parent Mamie Sonnier. “Disappointed.” … “As a Christian, I’ve read the Bible, you know go to church and stuff,” said Sonnier. “I know where it’s going to end up coming to, the mark of the beast. I’m not going to let my kids have that.”

… the hell?

Thankfully, the school is ignoring her and installing it anyway.

I’d love to know what types of infrared technologies Sonnier already uses in her life. Does she go grocery shopping? Use a remote control? Are those things evil, too?

Also, how does the reporter not follow up on that comment? Where’s the “What the hell are you talking about”? Did she ask and someone edited it out? Either way, we all missed out on a potentially beautiful moment.

(Thanks to Dick for the link!)



