CARIBOU, Maine – Caribou High School has decided to use fingerprinting software to track student attendance, a move that has some parents and civil rights advocates concerned about children’s privacy.
Principal Jamie Selfridge sent a letter to families on Jan. 24 saying the school will use identiMetrics, a biometric system that scans students’ fingerprints to store data on attendance.
IdentiMetrics is based in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, and launched in 2002 as a digital identification system for schools looking to keep more accurate student records and avoid issues with missing student ID cards, according to its website.
Instead of manually recording attendance on paper, students place a finger on a biometrics scanner, after which identification information is created for each student, according to identiMetrics.
Selfridge declined to comment Tuesday but in her letter stated that identiMetrics would help Caribou High obtain more accurate attendance records, make attendance quicker for teachers and improve security for student data.
Selfridge did not specify what steps the school would take to ensure that students’ data remains private.
The ACLU of Maine submitted a Maine Freedom of Access Act request to Selfridge and RSU 39 Superintendent Jane McCall Tuesday for all records outlining their communications with identiMetrics and the company and school district’s privacy policies.
“Collecting students’ fingerprints at a public high school is of serious concern to the public,” said Carol Garvan, ACLU of Maine’s legal director, in a statement Tuesday. “The Caribou community deserves answers and the rest of Maine should take note so we can proactively foster transparency and enact sensible guardrails to protect our children’s privacy in all schools.”
Caribou High’s decision has already prompted concerns from local parents.
At a school board meeting Wednesday, Robert Butler, a parent of two Caribou High students, said that administrators did not give him the option of opting his children out of biometric scanning.
“No permission form was needed. It was assumed that because I didn’t reply to an email [from the principal’s office] that I was granting permission,” Butler said. “I believe the school administration has overstepped their authority on this.”
Butler asked the school board to postpone Caribou High’s implementation of identiMetrics and consider liabilities the district might face if student data on identiMetrics is ever breached.
“We hear you and are looking into it,” said RSU 39 School Board Chairperson Lindsey Theriault, after Butler’s comments.
McCall said Tuesday that she will be unable to comment until she and board members have made a decision about implementing identiMetrics at Caribou High.
