| Author |
Message |
Jeff Miller
Fleet Admiral
Joined: 22 Nov 2001
Posts: 23947
Location: Mental Ward for the Mentaly Unstable 6th floor, Saint John's 1615 Delaware Longview Washington 98632
|
 Wed Nov 19, 2003 1:09 pm Food Fight |
|
| Quote: | A new no-cash policy at Kelso's Coweeman Junior High School cafeteria has sparked a small student revolt.
As many as 150 students have signed a petition to protest a PIN-number system introduced two weeks ago that requires students to deposit money into their meal accounts in advance.
"It's retarded," said ninth-grader Ashley Smith, 14. "I told the principal, 'It's stupid, I don't like it.' We decided we shouldn't have to have it."
Eliminating cash transactions has dramatically sped up the food line, giving kids more time to eat breakfast and lunch, school officials say. The system, used in some Longview schools since last year, also protects the privacy of students on free or reduced meals because everyone uses a PIN number.
"The bottom line for us is we want kids to eat," said Paula Burrington, Kelso's food service director. "Whatever we can do to remove the stress, the stigma, the discrimination. ... Confidentiality and time, those are the big ones for us."
Students complain that the system eats into social time, taxes their overburdened memories and blocks them from buying lunch for friends. In addition, they say, it tastes a bit like Big Brother because now the district can report to parents if and what their children are eating.
"It's probably easier for the adults, but it's harder for the kids," said seventh-grader Riley Davis, 13.
Ashley Smith doesn't like the idea that parents can request itemized printouts of their children's cafeteria purchases.
"They send a notice home to say your kid needs more lunch money --- and here's a list of everything they bought. Isn't that, like, disrespect of privacy?" Ashley asked.
Burrington said monitoring kids' nutrition intake isn't the point.
"This is not a watchdog situation," Burrington said. The system helps track finances, she said.
Eventually, parents will be able to access and make deposits to their children's accounts online, Burrington said.
Students said the cashless system adds to the numbers they already have to memorize, such as student ID numbers and locker combinations. It also encourages free spending.
"Sometimes you get, like, $40 in your account, and you can spend it all in one lunch, if you feel like it. But if your parents just send you with two or three dollars a day, you can only spend that much," said ninth-grader Megan Howarth, 14.
"It's a lot harder to keep control of your money when you can't see it," agreed 13-year-old Tayler Mustion, an eighth-grader. "It's kind of like, 'What's one more bag of chips or a pizza? It adds up.' "
Students have been told to keep their four-digit PIN numbers private, but kids share them with friends anyway, they said. That's not supposed to happen --- buying lunches for other students is discouraged because the government subsidizes only one lunch per student, and the second lunch will cost more, Burrington said.
After students type in their PIN number, information about the student's account balance and current purchases are displayed on the screen. Soon their pictures also will be displayed, making it impossible to use another child's PIN number, Principal Don Iverson said.
In September, Beacon Hill Elementary became the first Kelso school to use the cashless system, which is part of a computer software package called "Skyward." Coweeman followed on Nov. 3. All Kelso schools will adopt the system by the end of the school year except Kelso High, which will wait until a major remodel is completed in September 2004, according to Burrington.
Skyward is a software program the state offered to help track attendance. "It just so happened that lunch was part of that," Burrington said. "We've been able to put this in very, very minimally."
Students are still adjusting.
"My friend's account is empty. Does that mean she has to starve?" one girl asked Iverson at lunch last week.
Iverson explained that the student could borrow money, put it in an envelope with her PIN number and give it to the cashier as she goes through the line.
Instead of memorizing a PIN number and using a keypad, kids in kindergarten through third grade give the cashier a laminated card containing their PIN number, Burrington said. The cashier returns the cards to teachers, who pass them out again the next day before lunch.
Several Longview schools began using Skyward last year, and by next June, all schools in the district will use the program, said Annette Johnson, nutrition services secretary.
Johnson said parents sometimes call her office to ask why their children's accounts are empty.
"We're able to give them a printout and show them what days their kids have eaten lunch, ... if their child is not putting money into their account ... if their child is not buying lunch at school for some reason," Johnson said. Longview parents have praised the program, she said.
The new system has shaved five minutes off the time it takes to serve Coweeman students lunch, Principal Iverson said. Instead of 15 to 18 minutes, it now takes 10 to 12 minutes to serve 230 kids during a 30-minute lunch period, he said.
But perception is everything, and many students said it takes longer to get lunch nowadays.
"Things slow down because you have to remember your number and people forget it sometimes," Megan said. "I should think about it from the lunch people's point of view, I guess, because it's easier on them."
|
| Quote: |  |
| Quote: | | Coweeman Junior High School student Jake Ullman punches in his four-digit code to activate his prepaid lunch account. |
I personally think that this is a bad idea because if you use a system like this hackers could get into your account.
|
|
|
IntrepidIsMe
Pimp Handed
Joined: 14 Jun 2002
Posts: 13057
Location: New York
|
| Wed Nov 19, 2003 1:29 pm |
|
I think it's a good idea, actually. And I don't think it's a privacy violation at all, the parent's find out the childs grades and if they've done somehting bad in school, isn't that the same thing in a way? Plus, the parents are the ones paying anyway.
|
|
|
Thomas
Pool Princess
Joined: 08 Jul 2001
Posts: 19730
Location: Manchester
|
| Wed Nov 19, 2003 3:24 pm |
|
^ Exactly. The kids shouldn't be concerned about that at all, unless they're doing something they shouldn't. If they are, it's reported back to their parents so that it can be put right.
We have a very similar system at our school, although I don't use it as I come home at lunchtime, 
Everyone has a card, and there are two swipe machines in the cafeteria. You swipe your card, and the amount of money you have on it, comes up. You can then push money in through the slot. You don't do this when you go to buy lunch or whatever, you do it beforehand, and when you do come to buy lunch, they just swipe your card in the till and the money you spend is deducted from your card. Additionally, you can post a cheque through a special sort of post box in the cafeteria before a certain time of the day. The money from that cheque is then added onto your balance before lunchtime.
To address the issue of the kids spending all the money their parents give them... make it so that the parents can set a daily limit on what the child can spend. That's what's been done at our school.
-------signature-------
Gloss rhymes with hair!
|
|
|
Jeremy
J's Guy
Joined: 03 Oct 2002
Posts: 7823
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
|
| Wed Nov 19, 2003 6:17 pm |
|
We're just got the card system that Thomas was describing installed, but it keeps on being delayed. But what happens if the computer system crashs? Do they get no lunch? No one wants it, even the teachers.
|
|
|
davecenter
Commander
Joined: 22 Oct 2003
Posts: 391
Location: The Bridge
|
| Wed Nov 19, 2003 7:57 pm |
|
And also, Jeff's point is quite valid. A good hacker could steal all the money in all of the accounts. And in teachers accounts, that might just be a lot more.
-------signature-------
Some think they are great, some want to be great, but very few are truly great
|
|
|
Thomas
Pool Princess
Joined: 08 Jul 2001
Posts: 19730
Location: Manchester
|
| Thu Nov 20, 2003 11:14 am |
|
^ If there's only a box on the wall, what is there to hack with? You've got no computer software. All it has on it, is a button to clear your details with when you're done, a slot for your money, and the swipe thingey to put your card through. That's ignoring the fact that you're never going to be alone near the cash machines...
| 1Jer wrote: | | We're just got the card system that Thomas was describing installed, but it keeps on being delayed. But what happens if the computer system crashs? Do they get no lunch? No one wants it, even the teachers. |
I don't know what they have in place for that, but when our system does crash, I'll let you know.
-------signature-------
Gloss rhymes with hair!
|
|
|
Jeremy
J's Guy
Joined: 03 Oct 2002
Posts: 7823
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
|
| Thu Nov 20, 2003 5:36 pm |
|
Thanks, although I hope it doesn't for your sake. 
|
|
|
Thomas
Pool Princess
Joined: 08 Jul 2001
Posts: 19730
Location: Manchester
|
| Thu Nov 20, 2003 5:40 pm |
|
| chocho_11 wrote: | | We have a very similar system at our school, although I don't use it as I come home at lunchtime, |
Thanks anyway, 
-------signature-------
Gloss rhymes with hair!
|
|
|
Jeremy
J's Guy
Joined: 03 Oct 2002
Posts: 7823
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
|
| Thu Nov 20, 2003 5:53 pm |
|
Its after 10 o'clock, and you say you're allowed to make mistakes after that time, so I can as well.
Anyway, I've had the school show all this week and don't get to sleep before about 12, and get up for papers at 6 so am extremely tired. 
|
|
|
Tech
Rear Admiral
Joined: 12 Apr 2003
Posts: 3476
Location: U.S.S. Galaxia
|
| Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:10 pm |
|
I think it is a pretty bad idea... kids do what they like to do, parents know everything about it. And, from my experience, kids *enjoy* doing what they should not do. Parents should not be in total control of everything their kid does. They are restricted enough in their homes. Kids usually think of school as refuge from the rules their parents set for them at home. That really sounds like Big Brother to me...
|
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
Star Trek �, in all its various forms, are trademarks & copyrights of Paramount Pictures
This site has no official connection with Star Trek or Paramount Pictures
Site content/Site design elements owned by Morphy and is meant to only be an archive/Tribute to STV.com
|
Search
FAQ
Log in
