A new proposal to fingerprint students at Caribou High School has raised concerns from the ACLU of Maine.
Principal Jamie Selfridge announced the program in a letter last month, saying the school will partner with the Pennsylvania software company identiMetrics. Starting in the new trimester, the school will use fingerprints to track attendance, which it says will improve security and accuracy.
But the ACLU of Maine is concerned about the invasion of students' privacy says legal director Carol Garvan.
"Biometrics are our most sensitive personal information, and once that information is hacked, we can't get that back," she said. "And here we have a situation where it's not just a company tracking biometrics, but its the biometrics of our children, we're talking about ninth grade, tenth graders."
The organization has sent a public records request to the district, hoping to get more details on the program and the school's data security measures.
Garvan says she's not aware of any other schools in the state using fingerprints in this way.
"This could be just the beginning, and I think it's really important for Maine parents, for Maine students to be aware and understand that this kind of biometric surveillance is coming to our state and could be coming to a school near them soon," she said.
Garvan says she is concerned about how the data will be stored, how long it will be stored for and what kind of protections will be put in place.
Superintendent Jane McCall was not available to comment this afternoon.
