Pinellas County School System

In Pinellas, No More Long School Lunch Lines

School officials try to zip students along, but the youngsters forget the 10-digit identification number they need to get lunch. Or their fingerprints are rejected.

And those at the end of the line? Often, they just give up.

But, come this fall, some of Pinellas County's schools will become the first in the country to use an Infrared beam to help make those lines disappear.

The district is outfitting all of its middle and high schools with Fujitsu PalmSecure technology that will scan a student's unique palm vein pattern and match it to his or her meal plan.

Boca Ciega High School, which has about 200 students eat lunch in the cafeteria each day, piloted the devices late last school year, said Art Dunham, Pinellas's food services director.

The results?

Before: 15 minutes with only one cash register. After: 7 minutes.

Faster lunch lines have become a priority for schools as they contend with overcrowding or squeeze lunch periods to increase class time and boost students' scores.

That's what happened at Boca Ciega, which is under state oversight after receiving a low grade.

"The entire school is eating in 30 minutes," Dunham said. "If you have them waiting in line for 20 minutes, you can't do it. That eight minutes means a lot to the student."

And the pressure to incorporate more fresh produce into school lunch also makes quicker lines vital, said Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokeswoman for the School Nutrition Association .

"It takes longer to eat an apple, but you can slurp apple sauce more quickly," she said.

A 2009 survey of 1,207 school districts showed that 4.4 percent used biometrics like fingerprinting, though Pratt-Heavner said she has never heard of a palm scan being used.

The Pinellas School Board approved a $234,000 contract on June 14 that includes nearly $80,000 for 200 of the new Fujitsu scanners.

Dunham said they will replace the fingerprint scanners the district has been using, which have proved troublesome with only a 68 percent success rate.

Just as they did in the fingerprinting days, Pinellas students will have the option of using their 10-digit identification number rather than the scan. But Dunham hopes students will become more comfortable with it.

The Tampa Bay area has pioneered the palm vein reading technology since 2008, when the nine BayCare Health System hospitals became the first in the state and second in the country to install them for registering patients.

Florida school system creates technical college partnership « LINC ...

Florida's Pinellas County school system has partnered up with a local career training college to provide an alternate educational path for students who want to jump from high school to a technical career, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

To help students who may feel discouraged or overwhelmed by a traditional high school experience, the local college has started a new program that hosts high school students for an all-day academic and technical educational program involving the automotive and health care industries. Between 75 and 100 high school seniors are set to participate in the program once the school-year starts on August 22.

Lakewood High School principal Bob Vicari told the newspaper he often meets with students who are disengaged from their studies and the college preparatory approach taken by most high schools.

"When you look at the numbers, a lot of them aren't going to college," he said, explaining that some students are in favor of pursuing technical or vocational jobs instead.

The program is reportedly trying to attract the support of local business leaders to serve on an advisory boards, mentor students and even visit some of the career college's classes to interact with students and show them how their studies can apply to a variety of technical careers.

While the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that automotive jobs are only likely to increase 5 percent during the 2008-18 period, employment in the healthcare industry is expected to grow by 22 percent during that time.

From Baldrige to the bottom line, a road map for organizational change and improvement

Compliance determination system, Pinellas County School District, March 11-15, 1991

The management and control of quality

The management and control of quality

Improving service quality, achieving high performance in the public and private sectors