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JACKSON — Saxony Lutheran High School has entered the future when it comes to the taking its students’ temperatures. The school has installed facial recognition kiosks for the 2020-2021 school year as one of the precautions it is taking to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Saxony Lutheran Principal Mark Ruark was sure to reiterate that the tool is safe to use.
“When we say facial recognition, this is not one of those one million person databases that the FBI uses,” Ruark said. “It is a closed system and it uses pictures that we upload onto a tablet. Let’s get that out of the way first.”
When students and staff enter the building, they walk up to the machine and it will take the person’s temperature. It will then relay to the administration whether a person’s temperature is normal or above the 100.4 degrees deemed to be a symptom of COVID-19. The software is able to recognize students even though they are wearing a mask. The process takes about 10 seconds to complete, Ruark said.
That routine is better than the one that the school had previously planned, which included having personnel stationed at each entrance with handheld thermometers.
“This tool does all that for us,” Ruark said. “It really saves us on time and keeps the records itself. We were going to be taking temperatures anyway and this takes away an opportunity for there to be personal contact and keeping our staff safe.”
A former student’s parents worked for a company that was selling the machines and she knew that a hospital in Cape Girardeau was looking at that technology. She called the school and asked if Saxony Lutheran would be interested.
Ruark jumped at the opportunity.
“We saw it demonstrated and saw that it was cost effective,” Ruark said. “We were fortunate that a parent was thinking about us because it has been a great tool for us.”
Saxony Lutheran currently has two such kiosks, one by the office, and another by the entrance to the gymnasium and concession stand area.
“It’s closest to the two main entrances that our students use,” Ruark said.
So far, use of the kiosks has gone off without a hitch.
“I couldn’t be more pleased that first, it has worked as advertised and secondly, we haven’t had tie-ups with students being late to class because they were getting their temperature taken,” Ruark said. “Our students have been really good about just waiting in line and they don’t want to go back to the online or virtual learning as much as I do.”
