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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Some parents are worried about a plan to start fingerprinting youngsters at three elementary schools in California.
Beginning this month, children at the schools in the Santa Barbara area will press an index finger to a scanner when they buy food at the cafeteria. The scan calls up the student's name and ID, teacher's name and how much the student owes. Some children pay different amounts because they have government food assistance.
The district has to submit reports to the state and federal governments in order to be reimbursed for meals. The superintendent said fingerprint scanning simply speeds up a system that currently relies on pencil and paper.
But some parents are leery. One called it "Orwellian" and "kind of creepy."
http://www.wftv.com/education/10254822/detail.html