Knappa – Students this year will line up and give the lunch lady the finger.

The district has done away with lunch tickets for a system called biometrics, which identifies students using numeric codes generated from the unique swirls and arches of their fingerprints.

Knappa is one of the last districts in Oregon to stop using paper tickets, but it is one of the first to implement this technology, which educators say will speed up lunch lines and decrease labor costs.

“It makes it so much quicker,” said Judy Skirvin, the Knappa School District’s deputy clerk. “The kids lose tickets; they forget cards; they don’t remember their numbers. Well, the computer remembers those points on their finger, so it’s much quicker.”

She stressed that the system does not use an actual fingerprint, calling it a “finger-point system; not a fingerprint system.”

Rather than pressing an inked finger to paper to produce a storable print, students place their fingers on a touch pad, which logs three points of reference with which to identify them. Parents or students deposit money into an account, which students can access with the quick scan of a finger.

High school students will use an index finger. Kindergartners, with smaller surface areas from which to record print points, will be tagged according to their thumbs.

For teenagers lining up to register at Knappa High School last week, the new technology is “cool,” but also “no big deal.”

“It’s going to be awesome, because it’s new,” 15-year old Maggie Schroeder said, after registering by pressing her finger three times to the blue keypad of a silver box no larger than a deck of cards. “It’s really high tech and cool.”

Her father said the system will make buying school lunch easier for students.

“They don’t have to worry about a card or tickets, or about getting bullied for money,” Mike Schroeder said. “They can’t bully you for your finger.”

Nathaniel Laport, 15, agreed.

“It will be great,” Laport said. “I don’t like carrying stuff in my pockets anyway.”

Lars Gjovik, 15, recorded his print, then shrugged his shoulders and said the program won’t have much impact on his routine.

“I pack my own lunch,” he said. “I probably won’t even use it.”

The system also gives parents more power over children’s food choices, allowing them to designate whether children can purchase standard meals only, or if they can buy individual items “a la carte.” If students purchase separate items, their parents can request a printout from the school office to see what general categories those choices fall into, such as chips, cookies or juice.

Many schools throughout the state use similar electronic systems for students to purchase meals, eliminating the problems of lost, forgotten or stolen tickets or cash, but few programs require scanning fingers, said Heidi Dupuis, a nutrition specialist at the Oregon Department of Education. Dupuis said she is unaware of any district that scans fingers other than Madras in Jefferson County, although the Rainier School District has done it for two years.

Knappa will be the first school district in Clatsop County to use a biometrics system.

Seaside parents have access to their children’s food choices, but the district issues students pin numbers for making their purchases.

Astoria parents can also access logs of a student’s lunch purchases. In addition, they can choose whether a child may purchase items a la carte and can flag accounts for food allergies. Like Seaside, Astoria accounts are accessed via pin numbers.

Warrenton Grade School keeps track of students and deducts lunches from accounts without tickets, cards or pin numbers, while Warrenton high schoolers use prepaid punch cards to get their meals.

Jewell students use scannable cards.

The Rainier School District has used the finger-scanning method for two years. Superintendent Michael Carter said the program has worked “wonderfully,” allowing students to move through lunchlines much faster. He noted the system also gives anonymity to students who receive reduced-price or free lunches.

“No one will know, so there’s no embarrassment,” he said.

The district likes the program so much, it intends to use the finger scans for its bus system, Carter said. Students will be tracked as they get on or off the bus and will only be able to exit at their designated stops.

“It makes things much quicker and easier,” Carter said.

Kris Inniss, the cook at Knappa High School, looks forward to eliminating issues with children losing tickets and with tickets and money being stolen.

“Now, they can put their money into an account, and parents won’t have to worry about giving it to them every day,” Inniss said.

Deputy clerk Skirvin added that the system will save the district money.

“Employee time is dollars to the school district,” Skirvin said. “We’re doing this because it saves so much employee time.”