info-tech@aea8.k12.ia.us on Friday, May 13, 2005 at 10:01 AM -0600 wrote: >There are questions being >raised on whether charges are 100% accurate . . . .
Short version: number pads and cards both work fine. Longer version... Our Middle School gets the record for time and accuracy. We crunch through 165 kids in 20 minutes - X 4 grades on JMC Lunch (650 total). The fingerprint scanner, though it worked, was too slow. We now use a USB number pad where students type in their number - which matches the circulation database, etc. The lunch supervisor hears a tone for every student and simply glances to see if they are who they say they are - names, no photos over the WAN. This tone also allows the supervisor to see and handwrite an "overdrawn" slip if necessary. (We hear JMC is working on a way to print to receipt printers - something we very much miss.) In this way we can effectively move lots of kids fast. However we did have a time where JMC's lunch was charging wrong for other reasons. As such, they built a "fixer." To run it we have to be sure no one is on the Office client or the web system (which is effectively the same - which also shuts down the IP Gradebook.) Then we launch the client and run their "Lunch Fixer," found in the bottom of a menu in the Lunch module. Running it remotely takes a long time. You will want to run it if necessary on the same LAN as the Data directory. We also see that often the breakfast deposits and charges won't post until one leaves the module to go to the District level, for example, then come back in to the building level. Then data updates are there. Back to number pads - same thing at our HS - fast. However at our elementaries they wanted cards for a couple of reasons. Students might forget their number, etc. For the most part teachers handle the cards until the kids go through the line, at which time the kids slide them through a reader. We leverage the cards as a way to take attendance in the Before & After school programs. Who ever is left in one pile didn't attend; whoever is in the other pile not only attended, but got breakfast/snack. We print all Elementary lunch cards in the fall off one card printer, then print singles as needed. (Send an email to the card-printer lady, who pops the card into school mail and it gets there the next day.) Hope this helps, Steve Scarbrough Technology Coordinator Storm Lake Community School District 712.732.8100 fax:8101 --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus on the server aea8.k12.ia.us] --------------------------------------------------------- Archived messages from this list can be found at: http://www.mail-archive.com/info-tech@aea8.k12.ia.us/ ---------------------------------------------------------
