New technology will soon be helping staff at schools in the Sherman Independent School District to check the temperatures of students and employees as they are entering Sherman campuses.
The district announced this week that it has received 30 ClearScan temperature scanners to check the temperatures from a distance.
“Right now we are going to use it to enhance our safety measures. When you have a student that’s going to the nurse’s station, this is going to remove the need for that nurse to pull out a thermometer and take that temperature,” SISD Director of Communications Kimberly Simpson said.
The ClearScan technology was designed in Germany and allows for a user to scan themselves at a dedicated station using a device that resembles a tablet computer. The user is able to walk up and line their face up with the camera, which will use thermal imagery to take their temperature.
District officials said the technology is able to recognize a face with 99.8 percent accuracy, even while the user is wearing a mask.
The new equipment was made possible due to a donation by Simmons Bank, who donated enough for all campuses to have two units.
“Over the years they have shown support for Sherman ISD in many ways, and their most recently show of support comes in the form of 30 ClearScan systems,” Simpson said.
Each campus will be equipped with a unit at the entry of the building and a second in the nurse’s office. The front unit will be used to scan visitors to the school as a part of their health checks prior to entry.
Currently, the district uses no-contact thermometers, but these units still require the presence of a nurse or front desk worker.
The units were installed at the district’s central office, with Neblett Elementary service as one of the first schools with the technology. Simpson said students from the school helped test it out last week by scanning themselves.
While the primary use for these units will be during the current pandemic, the scanners will also be useful for nursing staff after the pandemic has passed.
“Nurses are always going to need to use these devices. Even post-COVID-19, these stations are going to be placed in nurses stations,” Simpson said.
She also noted that it remains uncertain how long the current health crisis will go on.
“Health checks might be around here for a while,” Simpson said.
Michael Hutchins is the local government reporter for the Herald Democrat. He can be reached at mhutchins@heralddemocrat.com.