社区黑料

School (in)Security is our biweekly briefing on the latest school safety news, vetted by Mark Keierleber.听Subscribe here.

It鈥檚 another hot summer Friday and another day with  鈥� this one jeopardizing both student health and campus safety data.

And once again, the development is unfolding in the country鈥檚 second-largest school district.

Kokomo Solutions, which the Los Angeles district contracts with , disclosed a data breach after it discovered an 鈥渦nauthorized third party鈥� on its computer network. The discovery happened in December 2024, but the notice to the California attorney general鈥檚 office wasn鈥檛 made until Aug. 5.  

It鈥檚 the latest in a series of data privacy incidents affecting L.A. schools, including a high-profile 2022 ransomware attack exposing students鈥� sensitive mental health records and last year鈥檚 collapse of a much-lauded $6 million artificial intelligence chatbot project. 

---

In the news

Students at the center of Trump鈥檚 D.C. police takeover: In an unprecedented federal power grab, the Trump administration鈥檚 seizure of the D.C. police department and National Guard deployment is designed to target several vulnerable groups 鈥� including kids. | 

• The move comes at a time when crime in the nation鈥檚 capital is on the decline. But a deep-dive from June explores how the district鈥檚 failure to prevent student absences has contributed to 鈥渢he biggest youth crime surge in a generation.鈥� |听
  
• Here鈥檚 what young people have to say about Trump鈥檚 D.C. takeover. |听
  
• City police will roll out a youth-specific curfew Friday in the Navy Yard neighborhood. |听

A new Ohio law requires school districts to implement basic cybersecurity measures in response to heightened cyberattacks. What the law doesn鈥檛 do, however, is provide any money to carry out the new mandate. |  

News in Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown: A federal judge in Minnesota has released from immigration detention a nursing 25-year-old mother, allowing her to return to her children as her case works its way through the court. | 

• The Trump administration has revived one of its most controversial immigration policies from the president鈥檚 first term: Separating families. |听
  
• Federal immigration officials quizzed an Idaho school resource officer about an unaccompanied migrant student, part of a broader national effort to conduct “welfare checks鈥� on immigrant youth who came to the U.S. without their parents. |听
  
• Leading Oklahoma Republican lawmakers have partnered with the Trump administration in a lawsuit challenging a state law allowing undocumented students to receive in-state college tuition. |听
  
• Los Angeles community members have organized to create protective perimeters around the city鈥檚 campuses after immigration agents reportedly drew their guns on a student outside a high school. |听
  • The district announced new bus routes designed to improve student safety while commuting to school听during heightened immigration enforcement. |听

• The nonprofit Southwest Key, which for years has been the federal government鈥檚 largest provider of shelters for unaccompanied migrant children, has laid off thousands in Texas and Arizona after losing federal grants. The Trump administration dropped a lawsuit in March over allegations the nonprofit subjected migrant children to widespread sexual abuse. |听
  
• A Texas court blocked the state attorney general’s request to depose and question a nun who leads Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, one of the largest migrant aid groups in the region. |听

Microphone-equipped sensors installed in school bathrooms to crack down on student vaping could be hacked, researchers revealed, and turned into secret listening devices. |听

鈥楾hese are innocent children, sir鈥�:听New video of the delayed police response to the 2022 mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, shows the campus police chief attempting to negotiate with the gunman for more than 30 minutes. |听

Kansas schools have become the latest target in the Trump administration鈥檚 campaign against districts that permit transgender students to participate in school athletics. | 

• The Loudoun County, Virginia, school board has refused to comply with an Education Department order to end a policy allowing transgender students to use restroom facilities that match their gender identity. |听听
• The Education Department鈥檚 Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into allegations the Baltimore school district ignored antisemetic harassment by students and educators. |听

Lots of drills 鈥� little evidence: A congressionally mandated report finds that active shooter drills vary widely across the country 鈥� making it difficult to understand their effect on mental and emotional health. | 

A federal judge has blocked a new Arkansas law requiring that public schools display the Ten Commandments in all classrooms. It鈥檚 the second state Ten Commandments law to be halted this year. |  

ICYMI:听I did a deep-dive into the far-right Christian nationalists behind more than two dozen state Ten Commandments-in-schools bills nationally 鈥斕齟ach of which are inherently identical. |听

Is Texas up next?听Civil rights groups will ask a judge on Friday to prevent a similar law from going into effect. |听

---

ICYMI @The74

---

Emotional Support

Don鈥檛 sleep on this听听鈥斕齮he billion-dollar industry for hypoallergenic (and floofy!) designer pups.

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how 社区黑料鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.