Tracking What Kids Eat At School

The Associated Press ran a fun story this week about a school in Georgia that is using an account debit system with a computerized cash register to let parents know what kids are eating at school.

Originally the system was designed to simply eliminate lunch money, and the resulting loss or theft of such funds. But now the system has been turned around so that parents can see the register receipt. The theory is that the system allows parents to monitor what their kids are eating—healthy food or otherwise.

The article doesn’t mention anything about student privacy issues, nor does it discuss why the unhealthy is being offered in schools in the first place. Look there, I suspect, and the other technology will become less necessary.