INDIANAPOLIS — The staff at Global Preparatory Academy in Indianapolis is practicing social distancing to keep students safe.
In each classroom. their desks have dividers and the hallways are marked with six-feet-distance stickers.
Now the school has added another level of safety, thanks to new temperature kiosks called Mobile Tracker.
Head of school Mariama Shaheed got a quick lesson during installation of the kiosks, which use WiFi to send data to a secure storage cloud.
"We have been trying to take kids' temperatures one-by-one with handheld thermometers, so I am thinking about how much easier this is going to be as well as how much more reliable," said Shaheed.
She has been the CEO of the school since starting the charter about five years ago. It's one of the schools recognized by the state as a "Grade A School."
Following the installation of the first of three kiosks on Tuesday, two Global Prep second-graders got to be the first to test them. In just one second, the students got a green light and verbal announcement for having good temperatures.
The kiosk also securely stores a face photo if needed for contact tracing.
Mobile Tracker CEO Bob Logan has installed the kiosks in school districts in Georgia, where some superintendents have ordered dozens more. Logan comes full circle as he sets up the first kiosk in IPS.
"I myself went to IPS and now working with an IPS school like Mariama's, it's very exciting," Logan said.
Shaheed was able to cover the cost of the kiosk with PPE funds that are designated for expenses related to retrofitting the school, so that her staff and students are kept safe. She will have one kiosk at each of their three entrances for use students by when they arrive. The cost of the mobile tracker kiosk is around $2,000 but may vary based on programming and data needs.
Now, thanks to Logan, Shaheed doesn't have to dedicate a team of staff members to check students for higher-than-normal temps, a potential symptom of COVID-19. Handheld thermometers are also time-consuming and have not always worked.
Although the main goal for the mobile tracker is to check temperatures, it does so much more. The kiosk can also track student attendance, serve as an employee time clock and track school visitors, with more features to come.
Michael Beer spent about 15 minutes installing the first kiosk, which are already programmed for easy setup. Although Beer and Mobile Tracker employees are attracting school districts right now, the same technology can be used at companies and businesses that have made temperature checks part of their regular pandemic safety plans. The kiosk technology can also be tailored to fit company goals as well, based on data and tracking needs.
"Every day, we are finding new ways to implement maybe another module or feature or function to the device that is helping corporations and schools," Beer said.
And students find it easy to use. Shaheed said some of the kids have adjusted better than adults.