By Areya Starke and Madeline Stratman
Something new came to Northwest this year to help the students and staff feel safer at school.The fingerprint scanner is the newest part of the high school security system. With the new changes, students have formulated opinions, and staff members have answered some questions students may have.
Senior Alaura Favazza said that student IDs in the past have been used for those entering and exiting the building, especially seniors during lunch. Because of this, some students think scanning IDs to enter the building would be a better alternative to fingerprinting.
“It would probably be easier and more sanitary,” Favazza said.
There are concerns about the dangers of sharing germs and spreading the coronavirus since everyone would be touching the same fingerprint sensor. The administration would like to remind students that it’s a good idea to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer after being fingerprinted to enter the building.
While there are a number of pros to implementing the new fingerprinting system, it has had a few glitches. For example, warm weather can cause the scanner to malfunction. It is unknown how the winter weather will impact it.
Principal Tim Krupicka gives background information on the decision to implement the new fingerprinting scanners.
“The fingerprinting scan was the decision made last year in the spring before the pandemic started,” Krupicka said. “We’ve been talking about this for several years, and Dr. Edwards, our superintendent, decided to move this forward.”
In addition to providing some back story, Krupicka also mentioned the benefits and drawbacks.
“The pros are that it is not used for legal purposes or anything like that,” Krupicka said. “It’s just a scan of different points of your finger. It is not to be used against anybody for any purpose other than getting into the building. Another pro is the fact that we can put students in the different groups, like seniors who go off campus for college classes.”
Even though there are a few kinks yet to work out, this newest addition to Northwest’s security system will keep students, staff and visitors safe.
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