CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou High School will not use fingerprinting software to track student attendance in the wake of negative reaction to the plan from parents and a Maine civil rights group.
Principal Jamie Selfridge sent a letter to families on Jan. 24 about the school’s plan to use identiMetrics, a biometric system that scans students’ fingerprints to store data on attendance.
That prompted the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine to submit a Maine Freedom of Access Act request to the RSU 39 school district Tuesday seeking all records of communications with identiMetrics and the district’s privacy policies.
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.
The company has marketed the software as a faster and more accurate way of keeping attendance and other student data. Students place a finger on a small biometrics scanner, after which identification information is created for each student.
Superintendent Jane McCall said Wednesday that teachers would have continued to take attendance manually in addition to using identiMetrics and that the biometric system is not like fingerprinting software that police officers use.
“The identiMetrics system does not store actual fingerprints but utilizes biometric data solely for identification and attendance tracking within the school environment,” McCall said.
School administrators have decided not to implement identiMetrics after hearing increased concerns from parents and community members, McCall noted.
“There was a lack of clarity regarding the purpose of the system,” McCall said. “The main objective was to enhance safety practices for our students [and have] updated attendance records during emergency situations.”
Selfridge sent a letter to families Wednesday about the school’s decision and said that administrators would look into other ways to maintain attendance records.
Samuel Crankshaw, ACLU of Maine communications director, said Thursday that ACLU of Maine still intends to seek information from RSU 39 to learn more about identiMetrics and its privacy policies.
“We hope to learn more about the tactics tech companies may use to market to schools and how they manage students’ most sensitive information,” Crankshaw said. “We hope our public records request will shed light on how these companies operate in Maine so parents and schools throughout the state are prepared.”
This story was updated to include reaction from ACLU of Maine.
