A unique security system that features iris-recognition technology soon will be tested in one New Jersey school district as part of an $293,000 experiment funded by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The technology, called IrisAccess, will provide positive identification of teachers and some parents using a scanner to match the unique shades and patterns found in the colored part of human pupils with coded images stored in the school system's databank.

Not to be confused with retinal scanning—a laser-based system that scans the area behind the eye for blood vessels and other intricacies—iris recognition is an image-based approach that captures patterns located on the eye itself, said Tarvinder Sembhi, director of product management for Iridian Technologies Inc., the Moorestown, N.J., company that manufactures the device.

Already the technology has been used to provide tighter security measures across parts of the Canadian border, in prisons, and a number of national airports, but this marks the first time the system will be tested in a school environment, the company said.

The Plumsted, N.J., Board of Education agreed Oct. 21 to test the system for six months, starting in January, and then decide whether it should be made permanent.

According to Phil Meara, the district's assistant superintendent, select parents and all staff members throughout the district will be given the option to participate in the program, which will place IrisAccess scanners at critical entry and exit points throughout the district's schools.

For teachers, the high-tech machines will replace a districtwide swipe-card system, which Meara said was insufficient and proved difficult to manage.

Under the new arrangement, teachers who wish to gain access to a locked door must stand in front of the reader, wait a few seconds for the system to match their iris to the images stored in the database, then—if approved—gain entry.

The school district also will test a similar approach on parents at the elementary level. According to Meara, the district will ask for parent volunteers to participate in a trial run of the "Teacher-Parent Authorization Security System," or T-PASS. This approach will require parents or guardians to prove their identity by way of an IrisAccess scanner before being allowed to sign their children out of school early for dentist appointments and other commitments.

The district's previous parental identification process consisted of a signature and photo ID, measures Meara said were anything but foolproof. "The parents want a sure thing. They want to know that their children are only being released to the right people," he said.

If it's imposters parents are worried about, Iridian officials say schools would be hard-pressed to find a more efficient identification system anywhere. According to Lina Page, who heads up the company's marketing efforts, there are approximately 247 unique data points that can be used for identification within the human iris, compared with only 80 data points used for a fingerprint analysis.