Sinton Independent School District in Texas introduces biometric attendance to school buses

Students in the Sinton Independent School District in Texas will soon be fingerprinted when boarding the school bus.

Sinton is the first school district in Texas to use the technology and this week has been spent by staff recording fingerprints. By next week, biometric systems are set to be installed on school district buses, Kristv.com reported.

When students board the bus, all they have to do is scan their fingerprint and the time clock will record the information and sync it to the cloud for parents and administrators to ensure the safety of their children.

“Many of our parents work in Corpus,” Sinton Superintendent Steve VanMatre said. “So they’re going to be able to go in their computer and say school is out at 3, they should be in the bus at 3:15 and actually see, yes, Johnny is on the bus, I’m safe.”

According to the report, only 10 percent of parents decided to opt out of the program, citing concerns of identity theft. It should be noted however, that the biometric sign-in device does not take or store fingerprint images.

The system, built by uAttend, has cost the school district $20,000 for 3 years.

Reported in BiometricUpdate.com, Business service provider ProcessingPoint launched uAttend last year, targeting businesses and workplaces.

The South African Department of Basic Education has recently outlined plans to introduce a biometric attendance system, though it is meant to ensure the attendance of teachers. The project, believed to be the biggest of its kind, is set to be active in 2015.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  education  |  fingerprint biometrics  |  fingerprint scanner  |  identity theft  |  privacy  |  time and attendance