Monday, November 02, 2009

Who are the wizards in Metro Nashville Public Schools food service department who came up with this one?

Today our Kindergartener brings home a note from her school with her new "personal identification number" to obtain her lunch, which we have already prepaid. And here are the instructions that I am to somehow translate for her while helping her memorize her PIN before they go live on Wednesday:
The cafeterias in our school system have recently been converted to a new Point of Sale system. To access your meal account, you need an identification number. You will enter this number in the keypad on the cafeteria lie when you receive school meals.

Please remember this number and DO NOT share it with anyone.
Keep in mind my kid is 5-years-old. She is supposed to be able to remember a PIN, "access her meal account," and not share the PIN with anyone. Are these expectations realistic or age appropriate?

A second memo from MNPS says that she will keep the same PIN through graduation. I have less than two days to help my kid memorize a PIN to access a computer meal account while introducing her to the complexities of identity theft, and MNPS expects us to release food service from its cares by securing that PIN while letting her use it for the next 12 years? I would have had an easier time helping her deal with bullies stealing her milk money.

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