School lunch e-monitor
p2pnet.net News:- School authorities in Glasgow, Scotland, are trying to get kids to eat properly by bribing them with points that can eventually be traded for gear such as Xboxes or iPods.
Now, in Atlanta, Georgia, they’re trying to “increase parents’ involvement in what their kids eat at school” through a lunch payment system called Mealpay.com, says the Washington Post.
“The system was initially designed as a convenient way to make sure children bought lunch without worrying that lunch money would get lost, spent on other things or stolen,” says the story.
Now, however, “parents can see all of a student’s lunch purchases. Even those paid in nickels and dimes – instead of the prepaid lunch account – are recorded in the system”.
The system, used by 1,000 school districts in 21 states, lets parents to electronically prepay lunches. Their kids then type in their ID number, “before the cafeteria cashier rings up each day’s lunch bill,” says the Post. “The bill then is deducted from the student’s account.”
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
See:-
bribing them – When a burger equals an Xbox, p2pnet, May 21, 2005
Washington Post – System Lets Parents Spy on Kids’ Lunches, May 28, 2005
