For every aspect of a student鈥檚 life, there鈥檚 a tech company trying to digitize it. Inside the classroom, online tools proctor exams, create flashcards and submit assignments. Outside, technology coordinates school sports, helps bus drivers find the right route and maintains students鈥� health records. 

California has a number of laws aimed at protecting children鈥檚 data privacy, but those laws have exceptions that allow many tech companies to continue packaging and selling students鈥� personal information.

This year, Assemblymember , a San Luis Obispo Democrat, is carrying a high-profile state bill that would add new protections for students. She says it鈥檚 important, especially as the Trump admin is trying to collect data about California residents鈥� , , and their use of certain 

Historically, California has been a leader in data privacy. In 2014, California passed  that prohibited technology companies from selling students鈥� data, targeting students in advertising, or disclosing their personal information. Then in 2018, the state passed another unprecedented bill that required all companies give California users certain privacy rights, such as of data collection and delete some of their information. 

But as technology evolved and proliferated, privacy laws repeatedly fell short in protecting California鈥檚 students 鈥� at the same time that the federal government has tried to collect increasing amounts of personal information, Addis said.   

Her  would restrict how AI companies use student data and create new data protections for college students. Some of Sacramento鈥檚 most powerful players are paying close attention to the measure, including the , which supports the bill, and the , which opposes it. Combined, these two groups spent nearly $8 million on campaign donations to state legislators or other political activities in 2024, according to the CalMatters Digital Democracy database. TechNet, a trade association that represents many of , also opposes the bill. 

The proposal, Assembly Bill 1159, would close certain loopholes in the state鈥檚 2014 education privacy law, but experts say it may not be enough to prevent companies from selling students鈥� data. 

A privacy expert struggles to keep her information private

Jen King is a privacy and data policy fellow at Stanford鈥檚 institute for AI, where she studies the tricks that companies use to gather users鈥� data and prevent them from opting out, sometimes known as 鈥渄ark patterns.鈥� In her personal life, she鈥檚 vigilant about avoiding online data tracking and maintains a landline in her Bay Area home to avoid giving out her cell phone number. 

King doesn鈥檛 want her children鈥檚 information available online or for any company to sell, though sometimes it happens before she can stop it. 

In the fall, King got an email about a platform called TeamSnap, which her 12-year-old son鈥檚 cross country coaches were using to manage the team鈥檚 roster. The company wanted her information, including her name, date of birth, gender, email address, and phone number. Once she logged in to the platform, she could see some of her son鈥檚 information, such as his name, email, and date of birth, were already listed. Photos and personal information from all of her son鈥檚 teammates were also available for her to see. 

鈥淚 was super irritated,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 need my birth date 鈥� I鈥檓 a freaking parent.鈥� She acknowledged some personal information could be useful for a coach but said that other questions seem designed to help the platform sell information to data brokers and ultimately, to advertisers. 

Her 17-year-old son鈥檚 data is also on TeamSnap, she later learned, because his robotics team uses it. This month, when King tried to show CalMatters her TeamSnap account, a pop-up appeared, asking her if the company could track her activity across other apps and websites.

Federal law requires companies to get parental consent before knowingly collecting or selling data from , but once a child turns 13, their data is generally treated much like an adult鈥檚 information, especially when that child is interacting with tech platforms outside of school. TeamSnap鈥檚 privacy policy  it doesn鈥檛 knowingly collect personal information about users under 13 鈥渨ithout express parental consent,鈥� though it says in some cases a team or organization may provide information on behalf of the child. 

The policy also says that TeamSnap has 鈥渘ot sold the personal information of any consumer for monetary consideration鈥� in the last 12 months, but that its 鈥渦se of cookies and other tracking technologies may be considered a sale of personal information under the CCPA (California privacy law).鈥� Information sold to advertisers and marketers included users鈥� names, contact information, purchase history and geolocation, the policy says.

California privacy law specifically requires certain large for-profit companies to get consent to collect data from anyone under 16. Often, consent happens when a user first opens a website and a pop-up appears, asking if the website can sell your data or track your cookies. 

If a teacher, coach, or other authority figure tells a student that they have to use a website or an app, then the student cannot realistically opt out, King said. They may be too young to understand how to opt out, she added. 鈥淢ost 15-, 16-year-olds don鈥檛 have any idea what this is about.鈥� 

Even older college students may have little agency in the technology they use, especially if it鈥檚 required for class or residential life. At Stanford, for example, King said her undergraduate students are often required to create Facebook accounts for student groups. 

The same is true for parents. King said she reluctantly gave TeamSnap her personal information, including her name, email, date of birth, and the landline number for her home, because it was the only way to get updates about her son鈥檚 team.

How companies get around California鈥檚 education privacy laws

In 2014, California became the first state in the country to regulate education technology companies directly, but being first comes with its drawbacks. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have examples of what best practice was,鈥� said Amelia Vance, the president of the Public Interest Privacy Center, a nonprofit organization. The law only applies to products that 鈥減rimarily鈥� serve K-12 schools and that are designed and marketed for students. 

Many tech companies argue that their products aren鈥檛 primarily intended for students or at least that they were not designed or marketed that way. The language-learning app DuoLingo, for example, has , but the app is also popular for adults. Apps or technologies serving extracurricular programs or sports teams can claim they weren鈥檛 designed and marketed for the classroom, or that their use isn鈥檛 mandatory, said Vance. 鈥淵ou have this sort of black hole where there haven鈥檛 been protections.鈥� 

Addis鈥� bill expands the number of education technology companies that fall under the state鈥檚 student privacy laws, but the language is murky when it comes to apps or online services used outside of class. 

In the case of TeamSnap, Addis鈥� communications director Alexis Garcia-Arrazola said the company would 鈥渕ost likely鈥� fall under the scope of the bill if its technology is marketed to schools, if schools direct students to use it, and if the sports team is sponsored by the school.  

Public records show that Piedmont Unified School District in Alameda County, Tamalpais Union High School District in Marin County, and Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District all purchased versions of TeamSnap, but only the Santa Monica Malibu district responded to CalMatters questions about any privacy restriction imposed on the company. Brandyi Phillips, the chief communications officer for the Santa Monica Malibu schools, said the district has an annual subscription with TeamSnap, which is only available to sports staff and parents. She said there鈥檚 an agreement with the company 鈥渢o protect District information and to prevent unauthorized access鈥� but did not clarify if that agreement prevents the district from selling students鈥� information. 

Berkeley Unified School District, where King鈥檚 children attend school, did not respond to CalMatters鈥� questions about any contracts, purchase orders or agreements with TeamSnap. 

Locally, school districts and colleges have the power to negotiate the privacy terms of any contract they make with a technology company, but many websites and apps offer free versions that a teacher or coach might recommend without getting formal approval from their district. 

Last year, the California State University system signed with Open AI, the company that operates ChatGPT, including an agreement that the company will not train its models on student data. Advocates for Addis鈥� bill say the same privacy restrictions should apply to any AI company with access to California student data, regardless of whether the company has an agreement with the student鈥檚 school district or college.

Are privacy laws getting stricter or looser?

Addis鈥� bill comes as privacy laws in California and across the country are in flux. In 2020, California voters approved  to create a new state agency to enforce data privacy rules and regulate the businesses that collect data. Advocates for the proposition contributed over $6.7 million to the campaign, compared to just over $50,000 contributed by the opposition, according to . The state agency that the proposition formed, now known as CalPrivacy, released new rules this year, restricting the use of automated decision-making technology, such as the use of AI to make admissions or hiring decisions. Those rules were originally stricter but businesses, lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom pressured the CalPrivacy board to .

In Washington D.C., Congress is considering changing federal law to limit how companies interact with . Separately, Congress is considering a bill that would require social media companies to prevent and mitigate children鈥檚 sexual exploitation, bullying, and self-harm. California Attorney General Rob Bonta is concerned that one version of the social media bill contains language that could  in California law.

Bonta鈥檚 office is responsible for enforcing many of the state鈥檚 existing privacy laws. In November, he said the state worked with Connecticut and New York to reach $5.1 million in settlements against Illuminate, an education technology company that uses data to track and evaluate students鈥� progress, such as their testing scores and developmental milestones. The company had a data breach, exposing 鈥渟ensitive information鈥� from over 434,000 California students, the state attorney general鈥檚 office said in .

It was the first time California successfully went after a company for violating the state鈥檚 landmark 2014 education privacy law.

To increase enforcement, Addis鈥� bill contains a new provision 鈥� the right for students and parents to sue tech companies in certain cases for privacy violations. Business and technology groups have opposed the bill, arguing that the new regulations and the right to sue would stifle investment in AI-powered learning tools.

King said that giving consumers the right to sue is often the only way to increase enforcement. Otherwise, the onus is on individual consumers to find concerning practices and try to opt out. 

Despite being an expert in data privacy, King said that she struggled at first to figure out how to delete her TeamSnap account, only later to discover that she needed to send an email to the company. She laughed at the irony, since it鈥檚 these kinds of dark patterns in user design that fuel part of her research. 

In academia, the strategy of trapping customers is sometimes called the 鈥渞oach motel,鈥� she explained, a reference to a popular television ad from the late 1970s for a cockroach trap. 

鈥淵ou can check in,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut you can never check out.鈥� 

CalMatters reporters Khari Johnson and Ryan Sabalow contributed to this story.

While scrolling through Instagram, the mother noticed her child’s friends also called the teen Toby. So she began digging for further evidence of something she had started to suspect 鈥� that the ninth grader, with the school’s support, was transitioning from female to male.

鈥淚鈥檓 like 鈥楬ey, you can鈥檛 deny it anymore鈥� 鈥� said Lydia, who did not want to use her last name out of a desire to protect her child, now 17.

The school鈥檚 principal, following guidance that allows students to decide whether to inform parents of their gender identity, refused to meet with her. But she found clues elsewhere 鈥� an alternate ID card with the name Toby stuffed in a backpack, and emails between district staff discussing which name to use in the yearbook.

Over time, she discovered her child鈥檚 transition was an open secret at school 鈥� one kept by staff, administrators, a district equity officer, the superintendent, even the president of the local teachers union.

鈥淭hey were strategizing against me,鈥� Lydia said.

Her experience now lies at the center of a major push by the U.S. Department of Education to clamp down on policies that allow schools to conceal changes in students鈥� gender identity from parents.  

In a March press release announcing an investigation into , Education Secretary Linda McMahon said teachers and counselors should stay out of 鈥渃onsequential decisions鈥� about children鈥檚 sexual identities. Officials are probing similar allegations in and .

In an unprecedented move, the department is threatening to pull millions of dollars in federal education funding from all three states. 

But it鈥檚 putting all schools on notice. In , federal officials warned states and districts that their support of student 鈥済ender plans鈥� had become a 鈥減riority concern.鈥� For educators, the message was as stunning as its rationale. The department is relying on a novel, and according to some critics, incorrect, interpretation of a 50-year-old student privacy law known as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA.

The law is typically used to safeguard student records and allow parents to inspect them. But it doesn鈥檛 compel schools to inform parents how their children identify in the classroom. If schools link a record to a student, 鈥渢he parent has a right of access to it if they request it,鈥� said LeRoy Rooker, who oversaw compliance with FERPA at the Education Department for over 20 years. But 鈥渢he school doesn’t have to be proactive and call and say 鈥楬ey, we did this.鈥� 鈥�

Department leaders appear to be stretching the reach of the law in an attempt to bolster conservative arguments that schools are meddling in deeply personal decisions that should be left to parents. In response to the Washington investigation, state Superintendent Chris Reykdal said in a statement that his state is the 鈥渓atest target in the administration鈥檚 dangerous war against individuals who are transgender鈥� and that officials are twisting student privacy laws 鈥渢o undermine the health, safety and well-being of students.鈥� 

To Julie Hamill, a Los Angeles-area attorney who to investigate, Lydia鈥檚 story demonstrates that a law designed to keep parents informed is now working against them.

鈥漈he parents are in the dark,鈥� said Hamill of the conservative California Justice Center. 鈥淧arents will not know student records are being withheld unless they鈥檝e somehow discovered it on their own.鈥�

In tackling the role of schools in student gender transitions, the department is dipping into one of the more emotionally fraught issues in the culture war, one that President Donald Trump campaigned on and weaponized once he was back in the White House. 

In one of his first , Trump said, without evidence, that schools are 鈥渟teering students toward surgical and chemical mutilation.鈥� In March, who reversed their gendering processes. She criticized the 鈥渓engths schools would go to in order to hide this information from parents.鈥�

To many experts, the administration鈥檚 scrutiny is out of proportion to the scope of the issue. In the overwhelming majority of cases, schools and students are just navigating preferred names and pronouns, and even those situations are infrequent. Multiple estimate that about 3% of teens are transgender. Far fewer are likely to approach school officials with a request for a name or pronoun change, said Brian Dittmeier, the director of public policy at GLSEN, which advocates for LGBTQ students.

Loretta Whitson, executive director of the California Association of School Counselors, said it is 鈥渞are鈥� for school officials to discuss transitioning with students, and that her group鈥檚 members say the only gender plans they鈥檝e completed were done at the request of parents. 

At the same time, most Americans agree that schools should get parents鈥� permission before changing a child鈥檚 pronouns in school records. Polls in and found that roughly three-quarters of adults support mandatory parental notification.

鈥楾his is not real鈥�

Lydia鈥檚 story exemplifies that loss of trust in the system.

The artist and former ballerina she thought of as her daughter began identifying as transgender upon entering Academy of the Canyons, a public high school in Santa Clarita, an upscale suburb of Los Angeles. Homeschooled since kindergarten, the teen wanted to pursue art and take advantage of options in their district. The school is located on a college campus where students can attend post-secondary classes while earning their high school diplomas.

鈥淚 thought it would be a good opportunity,鈥� Lydia said.

In the fall of 2021, while cleaning the ninth grader鈥檚 bedroom, Lydia flipped through some art journals. But instead of schoolwork, she found disturbing sketches of bloody body parts and notes about wanting a chest binder, top surgery and a new name. 

鈥淪hocked and scared鈥� that her child might be suicidal, her thoughts turned immediately to a friend of her son鈥檚 who鈥檇 recently taken his own life, apparently without warning. 

鈥淣o suicide notes. No threats,鈥� she recalled. 鈥淭he ones that never use it as a weapon are the ones that follow through.鈥�

She began searching for answers online. Initially, she only found sites about supporting a child鈥檚 transition  鈥� advice she rejected.

Unlike many parents in her shoes, she鈥檚 neither conservative nor religious. In fact, she quipped, an outsider might have assumed she was  鈥渢he poster mom for transitioning my kid.鈥�

She described her own parents 鈥� a Black father and a Jewish mother 鈥� as 鈥渉ippie artists鈥� who raised her to be a 鈥渇ree thinker鈥� without religion. Lydia鈥檚 mother changed her name to Michael in the 1960s because it was easier to make it in the art world with a man鈥檚 name. A lifelong Democrat, Lydia voted against a ban on gay marriage when it was on the state ballot in 2008.

But when it came time to have kids of her own, she embraced more conservative values, wanting to 鈥減rotect their childhood.鈥�

Speaking as a liberal, Lydia said, 鈥淚 really should have been like 鈥榊eah, sure, explore your transgenderism.鈥欌�� But instead, she did the opposite, taking a hard line against the shift. 鈥淚 said 鈥� I love you, but I鈥檓 not affirming you. This is not real.鈥� 鈥� 

That view belies a that some children can identify differently as young as 3 or 4. Other research shows children can experience due to gender dysphoria 鈥� feeling that their sex was misassigned at birth 鈥� starting at age 7. 

In attempting to explain what was happening with her child, Lydia turned to a controversial theory of researcher Lisa Littman. In a , the former Brown University scientist described the rise in rapid onset gender dysphoria among  as a 鈥渃ontagion鈥� driven by peer pressure and social media.

鈥淚 did what every parent did during the pandemic 鈥� let their kid be online way too much,鈥� Lydia said. 

Littman鈥檚 research methods from her own university and the broader research community because she based her conclusions largely on reports from self-selecting parents recruited from online forums that were unsupportive, or at least skeptical, of gender transition. They included , which labels itself as 鈥渁 community of people who question the medicalization of gender-atypical youth.鈥� 

Littman later published an amended of the paper, responding to the controversy and clarifying that the behavior she observed did not amount to a formal diagnosis. Her work, however, continues to drive trans-inclusive policies in school and the views of the Trump administration 鈥� and Lydia.

鈥淭here is no such thing as a trans child,鈥� Lydia said. 

鈥楢 lot of weight鈥�

It is a debate where the voices of kids directly affected are often absent. J.J. Koechell, a Wisconsin 20-year-old, transitioned in sixth grade after a suicide attempt. He now advocates for other LGBTQ students he says are 鈥渆ntitled to some privacy and consent.鈥�

鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying to figure things out and they don鈥檛 want to get it wrong. To disappoint parents is a lot of weight on a struggling youth.鈥�

He watched the school district he attended, Kettle-Moraine, and 鈥渟afe spaces.鈥� In 2023, as the result of , leaders stopped allowing staff to refer to students by different names and pronouns without parents鈥� permission. Some staff members over the controversy, including a librarian Koechell trusted. Koechell dropped out and is now finishing high school online.

鈥淢y teachers were all I had at school. I didn鈥檛 have any friends,鈥� he said. 鈥淐oming out was a matter of life and death for me. My identity wasn鈥檛 and still isn鈥檛 optional.鈥� 

Protecting students like Koechell is the purpose of a new California law 鈥� , also known as the 鈥淪AFETY Act.鈥� It prohibits schools from requiring staff to disclose a child鈥檚 gender identity to their parents. 

In announcing the Department of Education鈥檚 investigation of the state, Secretary McMahon said the law 鈥渁ppears to conflict with FERPA.鈥澛燘ut GLSEN鈥檚 Dittmeier highlighted that the legislation still requires schools to comply with the federal privacy law 鈥� and honor parents鈥� requests for records.听

One department staffer is worried where the investigation could lead. 

鈥淭his is irregular, based on our history 鈥� to take up an allegation [with] no official complaint, but one that is motivated by an attorney group that is bending the department鈥檚 ear about something,鈥� said an employee familiar with the case who asked to speak anonymously to protect his job. He said the administration’s goal is to pressure states and districts into rescinding policies that allow students to decide when to go public with their gender identity. 鈥淭his will result in districts adopting forced outing and will result in harming children.鈥�

鈥楲ife-altering decisions鈥�

In , the was raging long before the current controversy. 

, police removed state Superintendent Tony Thurmond from a meeting in the Chino Valley Unified School District after a tense exchange with board members over the district鈥檚 parental notification policy. He warned the board that their policy could 鈥減ut our students at risk because they may not be in homes where they can be safe.鈥� The state later against the district as well as others that passed similar measures. 

Continuing its battle with Thurmond, Chino Valley is now the state over the SAFETY Act, saying that minors are 鈥渢oo young to make life-altering decisions鈥� without their parents. 

National data show that of trans and nonbinary students say their home is gender-affirming. found that transgender adolescents assigned female at birth were more likely than other teens to report being psychologically traumatized by parents or other adults in the home. 

鈥淭here have been kids whose parents have physically abused them and kicked them out of the house when this information is disclosed,鈥� said Amelia Vance, president of the Public Interest Privacy Center and an expert on student privacy. 

Even before California passed the SAFETY Act, the state education agency and the urged schools to get students鈥� permission before informing parents about changes in their gender identity.  When officials at Hart Unified High School District refused to meet with Lydia, they cited a that protects trans students鈥� access to programs, sports and facilities that align with their gender identity. 

On the advice of an advocacy group, Lydia initially filed a public records request in search of a 鈥渟ecret social transition鈥� plan she believed Academy of the Canyons maintained. She also asked for communications between her child and teachers using the 鈥渘on-birth name.鈥�

The district turned her down.

Contacted by 社区黑料, Hart Unified spokeswoman Debbie Dunn declined to answer questions about the investigation or Lydia鈥檚 experience, but said officials would 鈥渃ontinue to follow the laws and procedures applicable to the district.鈥�

In January 2023, Lydia spoke at a school board meeting about being shut out by the district. Her story caught the attention of Board Member Joe Messina, a conservative radio talk show host.

鈥淪he came up to the podium one night and she was crying,鈥� he said. 鈥淪he looked at the superintendent and said, 鈥業’ve reached out to you. You’ve not called me back鈥�. She looked to the trustee who handles her area and she said, 鈥業’ve left you four messages. You’ve never called me back.鈥� 鈥�

Messina and Lydia talked after the meeting, and he connected her with the Pacific Justice Institute, a right-leaning law firm.

He noted that the issue transcended their political differences. 鈥淟ydia’s a lifelong Democrat, and I’m an outspoken Republican,鈥� Messina said. 鈥淔or her and I to come together 鈥� the rest of the world would say, 鈥榃hat’s wrong with you people?鈥欌�� 

Even with advocates on her side, Lydia continued to face obstacles. For months, the Academy of the Canyons declined to release an autobiographical English essay written by her child under the name Toby.

The district finally turned it over on advice from their lawyers. The essay revealed the child鈥檚 trepidation about coming out to Lydia. The piece recounted a moment before the pandemic, when the student, then 11, broached the subject of being queer. Lydia said her child was first exposed to LGBTQ issues while participating in a homeschool theater group. 

鈥淭he weather was overcast, and we were driving home from theater rehearsal,鈥� the then-10th grader wrote. 鈥淥nce again summoning all my courage, I mentioned to her that one of my friends had confided in me about their attraction to girls, and that I too might be queer. Unfortunately, my mom’s immediate response was dismissive and critical.”

As parent-child confrontations often go, Lydia remembers it differently. She said she treated the declaration as a teachable moment.

鈥淲e talked about what that word meant,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd why I felt she had time as she grew up to really know what sexual orientation she would be.鈥�

In a memo, the district鈥檚 lawyers also named the elephant in the room 鈥� that officials had been withholding the essay out of a desire to shield the child鈥檚 shifting gender identity.

鈥淚n general, parents have the statutory right to review a student鈥檚 classwork/homework,鈥� the memo stated. 鈥淭his issue becomes clouded 鈥� if the classwork could reveal a student鈥檚 gender identity/expression.鈥�

Despite refusing to accept that her child was transgender, Lydia said she tried to stay connected. In 2023, they attended over a dozen concerts together, seeing Hozier, Bastille and Penelope Scott 鈥� experiences that Lydia called 鈥減art of the healing process.鈥� The two went on a long-promised trip to Europe, during which Lydia gave her child an ultimatum: stop identifying as a boy or go back to being homeschooled. That fall, the school agreed to honor Lydia鈥檚 wishes to cease social transitioning, but her child still resisted, asking teachers to continue using the name Toby.  

This time, the district let Lydia know. 

Lydia did not make her child available for an interview, saying 鈥渟he isn’t ready to tell her side of the story.鈥�

Nearly two years later, she says her child, who graduated from high school last week, 鈥渨ants to put it all behind her.鈥� While the teen identifies as a girl, the changes have been subtle. There are days when she dresses in what her mom called 鈥渙versized, ugly boy shirts鈥� and others when she does her makeup and wears more feminine clothes. Recently, she switched back to her birth name on all of her social media accounts.

鈥淚 get a little choked up,鈥� Lydia said, 鈥渂ut that’s pretty huge.鈥� 

PROTECT Kids

The story might have ended there, but Lydia鈥檚 two-minute plea to the Hart school board, across social media, reached other parent rights advocates just as Trump renewed his campaign for the White House. When the president took office, Hamill, with the California Justice Center, seized the opportunity to file a complaint with an administration guided by , the right-wing Heritage Foundation鈥檚 blueprint for the president鈥檚 second term.

Requiring schools to notify parents if a student changes their gender identity, which already do, is one of the tenets of the plan. Heritage expert Lindsey Burke, who joined the department Friday, also wants Congress to give FERPA more teeth by allowing parents to sue under the law. Currently, parents can only file a grievance with their state or the Education Department鈥檚 privacy office 鈥� for years. 

Privacy laws 鈥渁re a core part of [the administration鈥檚] arguments for how parental rights need to be respected and strengthened,鈥� said Vance, the privacy expert. But the potential for lawsuits under FERPA, she added 鈥渨ould be extremely messy and expensive for schools.鈥� 

In April, the House education committee advanced a bill 鈥�  the 鈥� that would require elementary and middle schools to secure parental consent before students change their pronouns or preferred names or use different bathrooms or locker rooms. 

The committee debate demonstrated the deep divisions over gender identity and how schools should accommodate LGBTQ students. Rep. Mark Takano, a California Democrat who is gay, offered a personal story.

鈥淲hen I came out to my parents, it was at a time, place and manner of my own choosing,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 would not have wanted anyone else to make that decision for me.鈥�

To Hamill, gender transition is much more than 鈥渃oming out鈥� because it can lead to physical changes that later regret. Research shows that figure is , a fraction of those who undergo surgery. Even so, she said California鈥檚 policies add up to an elaborate 鈥渃oncealment scheme鈥� that pits children against their parents. 

鈥淚f you suspect the parents are abusive and they’re going to harm the child, you have to report that to [child protective services],鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut the government cannot by default assume that every parent is harmful and is going to reject and hurt their children.鈥�

鈥�I used to be pretty suicidal last summer and I tried to commit suicide about two times.鈥�

Since 2018, more than 36,000 students across the Seattle region have shared their hopes, fears and family secrets in an online questionnaire called Check Yourself. 

鈥�My dog has 鈥� untreatable cancer and my great grandma died a week ago.鈥�

鈥�Some time i harm my self by not eating cause i don’t really like my body.鈥�

Questions peer into students鈥� sexual preferences and romantic lives 鈥� even which gender they鈥檙e 鈥渕ost likely to have a crush on.鈥� It鈥檚 the kind of information a 12-year-old might not tell their best friend.

鈥�Do my parents see this survey?鈥�

Districts promise students their answers to over 50 personal questions will be kept confidential. But a group of parents has been able to obtain reams of sensitive survey data from multiple districts through the state鈥檚 .

One of them, Stephanie Hager, is on a six-year crusade to expose what she considers to be the program鈥檚 lack of privacy safeguards. To prove her point, the former Microsoft program manager said she correctly identified six students based on nothing more than details they provided in the survey and a simple Google or social media search. 

鈥淲e know their school, gender, age on a certain date, grade level, language they speak, their dogs鈥� names, friends鈥� names, race, their unique interests, what sports they play, if they are religious, and anything else they feel like writing in 鈥� plus their whole mental health record,鈥� said the Snoqualmie Valley mother of four, whose son took the survey in 2019.

 鈥淚 can’t imagine any parent saying OK to that.鈥�

Researchers at Seattle Children鈥檚 Hospital and the University of Washington developed the Check Yourself program to better identify students in middle and high school silently suffering from depression, substance abuse or suicidal thoughts. 

Supported by a voter-approved encompasses Seattle, more than $21 million since 2018. The funds help pay for mental health counseling for students and to track trends across the 13 districts that participate. Seven schools in Spokane County, in eastern Washington, and a few districts in Oregon also use Check Yourself.

Backers of the survey have a simple defense: It saves lives.

Valerie Allen, director of social services and mental health in the Highline district, told 社区黑料 of a student who jumped into a pond at a city park in 2022 carrying a backpack laden with weights. The boy went missing after an argument with his dad. The family, Allen said, turned to a school counselor who had started meeting with the student after Check Yourself responses showed he was suicidal. The counselor tipped off police to the pond, the kid鈥檚 favorite spot, where they arrived just in time to save him.

The question of whether results like this justify the potential pitfalls have mired the program in controversy since its inception.

鈥淭he ultimate protection鈥� against privacy risks is not to do the survey, said Evan Elkin, who helped adapt it for schools and serves as executive director of Reclaiming Futures, a project at Portland State University. But, he asks, is ending the program 鈥渨orth the lives that you lose?鈥� Officials said they could not determine the number of suicides prevented due to the survey.

For Hapsa Ali, a 2023 Highline district graduate, Check Yourself came at the right time. She suffered from 鈥渞eally bad social anxiety鈥� and wasn鈥檛 getting along with her mom. Based on her answers, the school connected her to a counselor who regularly checked in on her, texting once a week.

鈥淪he was my safe space,鈥� Ali said.

The clash over Check Yourself falls at the intersection of social forces that have only intensified since the pandemic. are experiencing extreme emotional and psychological stress. While show some improvement since 2021, 30% of 10th graders still say they have persistent feelings of depression and 15% reported thoughts of suicide, according to . 

At the same time, school districts house massive amounts of sensitive personal data and rely heavily on ed tech, making them prime targets for hackers. The Highline district, for example, closed for three days in September because of a . Nationally, more than doubled in 2023. Online mental health surveys also face backlash from activists and , who find them frequently intrusive, inappropriate and removed from school鈥檚 main purpose. 

鈥淪chools are really under a huge amount of pressure to address student mental health,鈥� said Isabelle Barbour, a consultant who developed a school-based mental health program for the state of Oregon. 鈥淏ut when they try to adopt something that can work in their setting, it brings up all of these other pressure points around privacy.鈥�

鈥業 shouldn鈥檛 be seeing this鈥�

The survey, which takes about 12 minutes to complete, leads students through a series of prompts, from simple tasks such as listing their top goals for the year to deeply personal queries like, 鈥淒uring the past year, did you ever seriously think about ending your life?鈥�

Parents get two chances to opt their children out of the screener, and students can also decline to complete it on the day of the survey. But districts reveal nothing that would alert anyone to its potential risks. Quite the contrary. promotes it as a 鈥渟uccessful, proactive approach to providing support to students.鈥� 鈥減ersonalized feedback and strategies for staying healthy.鈥�

In fact, assure parents that only counselors or other 鈥渞elevant鈥� staff can view individual students鈥� responses, which are stored on a 鈥渟ecure鈥� platform by Tickit Health, a Canadian company. To participate in the county-led program, districts must sign an agreement saying they will remove all 鈥減otentially identifying鈥� student data before submitting records to the county, which uses the information to evaluate the program鈥檚 effectiveness and respond to students鈥� needs. Districts promise that county officials and researchers only see.

But an investigation by county ombudsman Jon Stier, triggered by parents鈥� concerns, suggests this hasn鈥檛 always been the case. A report released last summer revealed that in the program鈥檚 early years, county officials were able to connect student names to their responses, although Stier said that practice has ended.

The issue of the survey鈥檚 confidentiality first emerged publicly in 2022, when 10 districts released spreadsheets of student answers in response to a public records request from a . Snoqualmie Valley parents asked districts for additional information, released as recently as February 2024, which they shared exclusively with 社区黑料. 

A handful of districts concealed some personal details. But several redacted little, if anything.

This could put districts in violation of federal , which require districts to gain parental consent or remove all identifying information from records before releasing them publicly. 

Privacy experts say that wiping information such as race, home language and favorite activities from a document in order to make it is no easy task. But without such measures, a combination of answers could identify a student, in the language of the law, 鈥渨ith reasonable certainty.鈥�

Sometimes, just a simple data point can expose a student鈥檚 identity.

During the 2021-22 school year, for example, only one student in the Kent district who took the survey identified as being part of the Muckleshoot tribe, which has about statewide.

Most survey questions are multiple choice. But 13 allow students to write open-ended responses 鈥� and it is these answers that experts say vastly increase the chances of identifying potential students. 

At 社区黑料鈥檚 request, Amelia Vance, president of the Public Interest Privacy Center, reviewed an Excel document with answers from more than 900 students in the Auburn district from the 2021-22 school year 鈥� details that included random factoids like a preference for techno music and proficiency in math, as well as very private revelations such as conflicts at home and incidents of self-harm. 

鈥淚 shouldn’t be seeing this spreadsheet,鈥� Vance said. 鈥淚t feels like everybody’s sticking their head in the sand about what the consequences could be.鈥� 

Districts 鈥榗aught off guard鈥�

Marc Seligson, a King County spokesman, insisted that 鈥渟tudent data security is paramount,鈥� but that responsibility for interpreting privacy laws falls to the districts.

鈥淲e can’t give them legal advice. Each district has their own lawyer,鈥� said Margaret Soukup, the county鈥檚 youth, family and prevention manager, who oversees the program.

She said she was shocked districts released records to parents. 鈥淚 was very upset because I didn’t even think that that was a possibility.鈥�

社区黑料 reached out to the nine King County districts that released records to the public and still use Check Yourself.

Five didn鈥檛 respond, and a spokeswoman for Auburn declined to comment. Conor Laffey, a spokesman for the Snoqualmie Valley district, said officials there worked with the county to 鈥渟afeguard confidential student information鈥� and consulted the district鈥檚 legal counsel before releasing spreadsheets. He declined to elaborate.

Tahoma School District Superintendent Ginger Callison, a former Snoqualmie Valley official, said she didn鈥檛 remember details about past disclosures and is 鈥渃onfident鈥� that in the future, 鈥渘othing will get released that isn鈥檛 allowed or required.鈥�

A Seattle spokeswoman noted that records went through 鈥渕ultiple layers of review to remove potentially identifiable comments within student responses.鈥� But the district didn鈥檛 redact very specific details about some students, like the one obsessed with reptiles who wanted a pet frog and another who speaks English, Russian, Spanish and sometimes Samoan. The district did not comment on why it included such information in the spreadsheet of students鈥� answers.

社区黑料 also contacted , a University of Washington researcher who helped develop the survey and now evaluates the King County program. She said districts are obligated to protect 鈥渢he confidentiality of student information,鈥� but directed further questions to the county.

Parents say the county also bears responsibility for students potentially being exposed. 

Hager, Check Yourself鈥檚 most outspoken parent critic, obtained an email thread through an open records request that shows officials were well aware of the survey’s potential privacy pitfalls. In one email, a former Tickit Health executive warns county officials that if a student 鈥渨ere to enter identifiable information in the free-text sections, theoretically this would be accessible.鈥�

One wrinkle in King County鈥檚 privacy dispute is that Washington has one of the strongest. In 2016, for example, the state Supreme Court upheld over half a million dollars in in a case against a state agency that was slow to turn over records. 

Elkin, from Portland State University, said districts were 鈥渃aught off guard and panicked鈥� when they received the open records requests. 

But the Washington districts are no different than many others nationally that currently find themselves fielding more public record requests than ever before 鈥� often from watchdogs like Hager or activists investigating curriculum materials they believe to be inappropriate. Spurred on by conservative groups like Parents Defending Education and Moms for Liberty, repeat filers dig for lesson plans, teacher training materials and financial records 鈥� particularly those relating to transgender issues and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Allen Miedema, executive director of the Northshore district鈥檚 technology department, said the districts that use Check Yourself could 鈥渄o a better job of letting parents know鈥� about the purpose of the survey.

If staff members failed to conceal student identities, he said, it鈥檚 often because they鈥檙e 鈥渟wamped鈥� with requests for documents and lack clear guidance from state or county officials on what鈥檚 allowed to be included.   

鈥楽urvey gets dark very fast鈥�

School leaders insist the danger is largely hypothetical.

Officials in King County, and from six districts that responded to a request from 社区黑料, said they鈥檝e received no reports of cyberthieves or child predators gaining access to Check Yourself and using results to target students.

They point to internal  showing that students feel more connected to school when they鈥檙e referred to an 鈥渋ntervention鈥� after taking the survey. In focus groups, students expressed 鈥渇avorable opinions鈥� about the screener. In  of almost 400 students referred to a staff member after completing Check Yourself, the percentage saying that an adult at school listens, cares and tells them they do a good job increased. 

鈥淭he tool has been indispensable in pinpointing students who would benefit from urgent extra help 鈥� some of whom we never would have known were struggling,鈥� said Laffey, the Snoqualmie Valley district spokesman.

But that doesn鈥檛 satisfy Hager.

She is among more than 20 Snoqualmie Valley parents who started asking questions about the program after the warned in 2018 that 鈥渕alicious use鈥� of sensitive student data could lead to identity theft and 鈥渉elp child predators identify new targets.鈥�

Hager, who attended school in King County, doesn鈥檛 have to imagine what it鈥檚 like to be preyed on by a trusted adult. In seventh grade, she said she was a victim of sexual misconduct involving a male teacher. 

鈥淚 know the FBI’s scenarios are real,鈥� she said.

She points to students鈥� written reflections on the survey as proof that some find the questions disturbing.

“This survey gets dark very fast especially for a child.”

“Why does it act like I’m constantly breaking the law? I’m 12.” 

Many students expressed particular concern about questions related to sex and gender. One 12-year-old wrote:

“Female but kinda non binary sorta questioning but not? (Don’t tell my parents).”

Seligson, the King County spokesman, said the survey asks such questions because LGBTQ kids 鈥渁re one of our most vulnerable populations.鈥� State data released in 2023 showed that were nearly twice as likely as other students to report 鈥渄epressive feelings.鈥� 

The unease some students expressed about Check Yourself was echoed by several district staffers.

In 2019, an official in the Tukwila district, south of Seattle, wrote in that the survey was 鈥渃ausing considerable angst鈥� and that with many 鈥渧ulnerable鈥� and 鈥渢raditionally marginalized鈥� families, educators didn鈥檛 want to 鈥渃reate unnecessary harm.鈥�

That same year, a Seattle school counselor called it a 鈥渟uper personal survey,鈥� according to an email 社区黑料 obtained through a public records request. She questioned why the district needed the information and whether it would be able to keep it confidential.

鈥楢bsolute data privacy is a fantasy鈥�

To be sure, not all King County parents have a problem with Check Yourself.

Erica Thomson, who works for a cloud communications company, said the notion of 鈥渁bsolute data privacy is a fantasy.鈥�

She has two boys in the Seattle schools, one who is transgender and the other who has ADHD, and appreciates that the program gets her children to open up.

鈥淜ids do not tell parents everything,鈥� Thomson said. 鈥淪ometimes it is because they love their parents too much and do not want them to worry or suffer.鈥�

Some students write that they appreciate the survey experience, which includes targeted recommendations based on their answers. A student who reports using marijuana, for example, will get facts about how it negatively affects memory and mental and physical health.

Ali, the former student who found Check Yourself beneficial to her well-being, had a distinctly nuanced take on her experience.

While praising the personal attention she received from a counselor,  Ali described a 鈥渞owdy鈥� atmosphere in the sixth-period history classroom where she took the survey, with classmates buried in their phones and chatting with friends. It made it difficult to express some of the conflicts she was experiencing at the time. 

鈥淚t was a bunch of juniors just goofing off. I was sitting next to my friend, and she would just ask me, 鈥極h, what did you answer?鈥欌�� she said. The atmosphere, she added, 鈥渇elt like it wasn鈥檛 as serious as it should have been.鈥�

The information is 鈥榯oo valuable鈥�

As King County parents and school officials debate the merits and risks of Check Yourself, other districts have managed to use the program with relative ease.

In Oregon鈥檚 Hillsboro district, students鈥� responses stay on the Tickit platform 鈥� unavailable to outside evaluators or the public at large.

Spokane County officials not only eliminated questions about sexual orientation and romantic attractions, but also removed open-response fields.

鈥淲hy is it necessary for us to have that information?鈥� asked Justin Johnson, who leads community services for Spokane. Additionally, clinicians monitor the administration of the survey in classrooms, allowing the results to be covered by . 

But Soukup, the King County official who oversees the program, said districts there find the write-in answers 鈥渢oo valuable鈥� to do without because students often use them to open up about their problems.

For some King County districts, however, Check Yourself simply proved to be too much.

The Lake Washington district pulled out of the program three years ago and instead contracts with full-time mental health specialists to respond to students鈥� needs.

The intensely personal questions 鈥� and the resulting risk of privacy violations 鈥� also helped push the Bellevue school system to drop it in 2019. 

Officials opted for , and because of their sensitive nature, results are 鈥渃onsidered some of the most privileged data the district has,鈥� said Naomi Calvo, who served as Bellevue鈥檚 director of research, evaluation and assessment until 2023. 鈥淚 didn’t even have access to it.鈥�

Calvo understands why districts jumped to implement Check Yourself and most continue to use it. 鈥淪tudents have needs that were going unaddressed and there is a dearth of options available,鈥� she said. 

But as a mental health professional with a young son at the time, she felt skeptical. 

鈥淎s a researcher, I believe in surveys,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut I would not have let my child take that survey.鈥�

This story was co-published with .

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Additional resources are available at . For LGBTQ mental health support, you can contact The Trevor Project鈥檚 toll-free support line at 866-488-7386.

Free, confidential treatment referral and information is available in English and Spanish at 800-662-4357, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration鈥檚 National Helpline.

Aleeza Siddique, 15, was in a Spanish class earlier this year in her Northern California high school when a lesson about newscasts got derailed by her school鈥檚 internet filter. Her teacher told the class to open up their school-issued Chromebooks and explore a list of links he had curated from the Spanish language broadcast news giant Telemundo. The students tried, but every single link turned up the same page: a picture of a padlock. 

鈥淣one of it was available to us,鈥� Aleeza said. 鈥淭he site was completely blocked.鈥� 

She said her teacher scrambled to pivot and fill the 90-minute class with other activities. From what she recalls, they went over vocabulary lists and independently clicked through online quizzes from Quizlet 鈥� a decidedly less dynamic use of time. 

 by the D.C.-based Center for Democracy & Technology shows just how often some of that blocking happens nationwide. The nonprofit digital rights advocacy organization conducted its fifth annual survey of middle and high school teachers and parents as well as high school students about a range of tech issues. About 70% of both teachers and students this year said web filters get in the way of students鈥� ability to complete their assignments. 

Virtually all schools use some type of web filter to comply with the Children鈥檚 Internet Protection Act, which requires districts taking advantage of the federal E-rate program for discounted internet and telecommunications equipment to keep kids from seeing graphic and obscene images online. A , which is now a part of CalMatters, discovered far more expansive blocking by school districts than federal law requires, some of it political, mirroring culture war battles over what students have access to in school libraries. That investigation found school districts blocking access to sex education and LGBTQ+ resources, including suicide prevention. It also found routine blocking of websites students seek out for academic research. And because school districts tend to set different restrictions for students and staff, teachers can be  because of how they complicate lesson planning.

Web filtering is  鈥榮ubjective and unchecked鈥�

Elizabeth Laird, director of equity in civic technology for the center and lead author of the report, said The Markup鈥檚 reporting helped inspire additional survey questions to better understand how schools are using filters as a 鈥渟ubjective and unchecked鈥� method of restricting students鈥� access to information. 

鈥淭he scope of what is blocked is more pervasive and value-laden than I think we initially even knew to ask last year,鈥� Laird said. 

While past surveys have revealed how often students and teachers report disproportionate filtering of content related to reproductive health, LGBTQ+ issues and content about people of color, the center asked respondents this year if they thought content associated with or about immigrants was more likely to be blocked. About one-third of students said yes. 

Aleeza would have said yes, after her experience with Telemundo. The California teen said how often she runs into blocks depends on how much research she鈥檚 trying to do and how much of it she has to do on her school computer. When she was taking a debate class, she ran into the blocks regularly while researching controversial topics. An article in Slate magazine about LGBTQ+ rights gave her a block screen, for example, because the entire news website is blocked. She said she avoids her school Chromebook as much as possible, doing homework on her personal laptop away from school Wi-Fi whenever she can. 

Nearly one-third of teachers surveyed by the Center for Democracy & Technology said their schools block content related to the LGBTQ+ community. About half said information about sexual orientation and reproductive health is blocked. And Black and Latino students were more likely to say content related to people of color is disproportionately blocked on their school devices.

For students like Aleeza, the blocking is frustrating in practice as well as principle. 

鈥淭he amount that they鈥檙e policing is actively interfering with our ability to have an education,鈥� she said. Often, she has no idea why a website triggers the block page. Aleeza said it feels arbitrary and thinks her school should be more transparent about what it鈥檚 blocking and why. 

鈥淲e should have a right to know what we鈥檙e being protected from,鈥� she said.

Audrey Baime, Olivia Brandeis, and Samantha Yee, all members of the CalMatters Youth Journalism Initiative, contributed reporting for this story.

This was originally published on .

One thing is clear from the stories that populate this year鈥檚 list: Many of America鈥檚 schools are still grappling with the academic struggles that followed the pandemic 鈥� as well as the end of federal relief funds, which expired this fall. Student enrollments have yet to recover and many districts are facing 鈥� or will soon face 鈥� tough decisions about closures.

Meanwhile, some educators are testing innovative ways of teaching math, reading and science, hoping to gain back some of the academic ground lost since the COVID shutdowns. Technology is also playing a pivotal role in this post-pandemic world, with communities weighing the impact of cellphones and artificial intelligence on student learning and mental health.

November鈥檚 election 鈥� which featured debates over school choice, Christianity in public schools and the fate of the Department of Education 鈥� also made headlines here at 社区黑料. And, as calls for cracking down on immigration grew even louder, we dug deep into the hurdles facing immigrant students and schools. 

Here鈥檚 a roundup of our most memorable and impactful stories of the year:

Exclusive: Thousands of Schools at Risk of Closing Due to Enrollment Loss

By Linda Jacobson

Long before districts close schools, enrollment loss takes a toll on staff and families, from combined classes to the loss of afterschool programs. This exclusive analysis by Linda Jacobson, based on Brookings Institution research, found that more than 4,400 schools lost at least one-fifth of their students during the pandemic 鈥� more than double the number during the pre-COVID period. The detailed look shows how the crisis is playing out at the school level and which districts face tough decisions about closures and cuts. 

Unwelcome to America鈥�: Hundreds of U.S. High Schools Wrongfully Refused Entry to Older, Immigrant Student

By Jo Napolitano

社区黑料鈥檚 16-month-long undercover investigation of school enrollment practices for older immigrant students revealed rampant refusals of teens who had a legal right to attend, shutting a door critical to success in America. Senior reporter Jo Napolitano called 630 high schools in every state and D.C. to test whether they would enroll a 19-year-old Venezuelan newcomer who had limited English language skills and whose education was interrupted after ninth grade. 鈥淗ector Guerrero鈥� was turned down more than 300 times, including 204 denials in the 35 states and D.C., where high school attendance goes up to at least age 20. 社区黑料鈥檚 investigation revealed pervasive hostility and suspicion toward these students in a particularly xenophobic era and a deeply arbitrary process determining their access to K-12 education.

Interactive: Which School Districts Do the Best Job of Teaching Kids to Read?

By Chad Aldeman

It’s not news that low-income fourth graders are years behind their higher-income peers in reading. But poverty is not destiny, and some schools and districts hugely outperform expectations. Working with Eamonn Fitzmaurice, 社区黑料鈥檚 art and technology director, contributor Chad Aldeman set out to find districts that are beating the odds and successfully teaching kids to read. From Steubenville City, Ohio, to Worcester County, Maryland, and across the country, click on their interactive map to find the highfliers in your state. 

Whistleblower: L.A. Schools鈥� Chatbot Misused Student Data as Tech Company Crumbled

by Mark Keierleber

In early June, a former top software engineer at ed tech startup, AllHere, warned Los Angeles district officials and others about student data privacy risks associated with the company鈥檚 AI chatbot “Ed.” The LA Unified School District had agreed to pay AllHere $6 million for the chatbot and the spring rollout of Ed was highly publicized, with L.A. schools chief Alberto Carvalho calling the chatbot鈥檚 student knowledge powers 鈥渦nprecedented in American public education.鈥� But, as Mark Keierleber reported, red flags soon began to emerge. The company financially imploded and its founder Joanna Smith-Griffin left the company. In November, federal prosecutors indicted her, accusing of defrauding investors of $10 million.

America’s Most Popular Autism Therapy May Not Work 鈥� and May Cause Serious Harms

by Beth Hawkins

Today, a child鈥檚 new autism diagnosis is frequently followed by a referral to a variation of an intervention called applied behavior analysis, or ABA, and four decades of pressure from parents and advocates has created a sprawling treatment industry. Yet, even as providers and lobbyists jockey to strengthen ABA’s dominance, autistic adults and researchers increasingly say there鈥檚 alarmingly little proof it鈥檚 effective 鈥� and mounting evidence it鈥檚 traumatizing. In an exclusive investigation, Beth Hawkins spoke with families, teachers and scholars about the growing controversy surrounding autism鈥檚 鈥済old standard鈥� treatment. 

A Cautionary AI Tale: Why IBM鈥檚 Dazzling Watson Supercomputer Made a Lousy Tutor

by Greg Toppo

In 2011, IBM’s Watson supercomputer crushed Jeopardy! champions, raising hopes that it could help create a powerful tutoring system that would rival human teachers. But the visionary at the head of the effort watched as the project fizzled, the victim of AI’s inability to hold students鈥� attention. As new educational AI contenders like Khanmigo emerge, what lessons can they learn from the past? 社区黑料鈥檚 Greg Toppo took a look at how IBM鈥檚 failed effort tempers today鈥檚 shiny AI promises.

State-by-State, How Segregation Legally Continues 7 Decades Post Brown v. Board

by Marianna McMurdock

Seventy years after the Supreme Court outlawed separating public school children by race, Marianna McMurdock sought to answer a pivotal question: How are some of the most coveted public schools in the U.S. able to legally exclude all but the most privileged families? Last spring, she spoke with researchers at the nonprofits Available to All and Bellwether, which published a report that examined the troubling laws, loopholes and trends that are undermining the legacy of Brown v. Board in each state. The researchers called for urgent legal reform to offset the impact that one鈥檚 home address has on enrollment, particularly as many districts have started considering closures.

Being 鈥楤ad at Math鈥� Is a Pervasive Concept. Can it Be Banished From Schools?

by Jo Napolitano

Are you bad at math? If you are, it鈥檚 likely that self-fulfilling seed got planted early. Many math education leaders are trying to uproot that thinking, arguing that any student can master the subject with the right accommodations and tutoring. Changing the bad-at-math mindset in U.S. schools, however, will not be easy, others warn. 鈥淲e use math as a means to sort kids by who gets to be at the top and who gets to be at the bottom,鈥� one math equity advocate told Jo Napolitano. 

Hope Rises in Pine Bluff: Saving Schools in America’s Fastest-Shrinking City

by 社区黑料 Staff

Pine Bluff, Arkansas, earned the unwelcome distinction in the 2020 census of being America’s fastest-shrinking city, losing over 12% of its population in one decade. Amid this exodus of families, students and taxpayers, its school district had to navigate school closures, budget pressures and a state takeover. Throughout last winter, members of 社区黑料鈥檚 newsroom embedded in Pine Bluff to report on the region鈥檚 trajectory. Here are some of the powerful stories they came back with: 

Kids, Screen Time & Despair: An Expert in the Economics of Happiness Echoes Psychologists鈥� Warnings About Tech

By Kevin Mahnken

A prominent economist has joined the growing chorus of experts warning against the dangers posed to youth mental health by screens and social media, reported Kevin Mahnken. New papers released by Dartmouth College professor Danny Blanchflower, a leading expert in the burgeoning field of happiness economics, suggest that the huge increase in screen time over the last decade has made the young more likely to despair than the middle-aged. 

Why Is a Grading System Touted as More Accurate, Equitable So Hard to Implement?

By Amanda Geduld

As educators push for more transparency in grading policies post-pandemic, some are turning to standards-based grading. When done correctly, it separates academic mastery from behavior and more accurately reflects what students know. But misunderstandings of the model, a lack of proper training, and a rush to adopt it often leads to messy implementation. Associate professor Laura Link told Amanda Geduld that as schools look to fix learning gaps, 鈥渟tandards-based grading is one that seems like it can be a quickly adopted effort. But it could backfire 鈥� and does backfire 鈥� very easily.鈥�

Texas Seeks to Inject Bible Stories into Elementary School Reading Program

by Linda Jacobson

Last May, a sweeping redesign of Texas鈥� elementary school curriculum that used Bible stories to teach reading was unveiled. At the time, state education Commissioner Mike Morath described the changes as a shift toward a 鈥渃lassical model of education.鈥� But the revisions raised questions about potential religious indoctrination and bias. Nevertheless, in November, the Texas Board of Education approved the new curriculum in a close vote. Linda Jacobson followed the story closely.

The Political War Over the Department of Education Is Only Beginning

By Kevin Mahnken 

Fresh from their November victories, Republicans are already working to help President-elect Donald Trump achieve his promise of abolishing the U.S. Department of Education. But research suggests that, while perceptions of the agency are mixed, the public is unlikely to back a sweeping course of elimination. 鈥淪aying you鈥檒l get rid of it reads generically as being anti-education,鈥� one political scientist told Kevin Mahnken. 鈥淭hat strikes me as a very heavy albatross to hang around your neck come the midterms.” 

18 Years, $2 Billion: Inside New Orleans’ Biggest School Recovery Effort in History

By Beth Hawkins

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed 110 New Orleans schools. Displaced families could not return until there were classrooms to welcome their kids, but no one had ever tried to rebuild an entire school system. While many of the buildings were moldering even before the storm, federal funds couldn’t be used to build something better. Some of the schools had landmark status and were of great historical significance. Eighteen years and $2 billion later, Beth Hawkins took a look at seven schools that illustrate how the district accomplished the task.

As Ryan Walters鈥� Right-Wing Star Rose, Critics Say Oklahoma Ed Dept. Fell Apart

By Linda Jacobson

Oklahoma state education chief Republican Ryan Walters has acted as a one-man publicity machine, a performance that鈥檚 earned him venomous foes and ardent fans who follow him with a near-religious fervor. But one casualty of his approach might be a functioning state education bureaucracy. Even Republican lawmakers have grown impatient, calling for a probe into how Walters handles state and federal funds. As Rep. Tammy West, a GOP incumbent running for re-election, told reporter Linda Jacobson, 鈥淩egardless of party, citizens want transparency, accountability and communication.鈥�

AI 鈥楥ompanions鈥� Are Patient, Funny, Upbeat 鈥� and Probably Rewiring Kids Brains

By Greg Toppo

A college student relies on ChatGPT to help him make life decisions, including whether to break up with his girlfriend. Is this a future we feel good about? While AI bots and companions like ChatGPT, Replika and Snapchat鈥檚 MyAI, can offer support, comfort and advice, experts are beginning to warn of potential risks. 社区黑料鈥檚 Greg Toppo talks to researchers and policy experts about what we should be doing to help make them safer.

Indiana Looks to Swiss Experts to Create Thousands of Student Apprenticeships

By Patrick O鈥橠onnell

Indiana officials have turned to experts at the Swiss version of MIT for help in becoming a national career training leader by making apprenticeships available to thousands of high school students across the state. Indiana is the latest state to work with ETH Zurich 鈥� where Albert Einstein once studied 鈥� to develop ways to break down barriers between educators and businesses so that career training can be a large part of a reinvented high school experience, reported Patrick O鈥橠onnell. 

Investigation: Nearly 1,000 Native Children Died in Federal Boarding Schools

By Marianna McMurdock 

Nearly 1,000 Native American children died while forced to attend government-affiliated boarding schools, according to a report published last summer by the Interior Department. The children are buried in 74 unmarked and marked graves, reported Marianna McMurdock, as tribes assess repatriation of remains. Nearly 19,000 children were estimated to be kidnapped, often at gunpoint, and enrolled in the schools with the aim of assimilation. “We [were] never called by our name, we were all called by our numbers,鈥� said one survivor. 

The Nation鈥檚 Biggest Charter School System Is Under Fire in Los Angeles

By Ben Chapman 

The nation鈥檚 largest experiment with charter schools is no longer growing. These days, Los Angeles charter operators say they are just trying to survive. With tough new policies governing co-locations, falling enrollment, and a hostile district school board, charter leaders say they鈥檝e never faced stronger headwinds, reported Ben Chapman. With enrollment plummeting across the district, some charter networks have recently announced closures while others have stopped submitting proposals for new campuses. 鈥淣ow, particularly in L.A., our focus is not on growing,鈥� said Joanna Belcher, chief impact officer for KIPP SoCal. 

Florida Students Seize on Parental Rights to Stop Educators from Hitting Kids

By Mark Keierleber 

Late last year, Florida senior Brooklynn Daniels was called to the principal鈥檚 office and spanked with a wooden paddle 鈥渢hat was thick like a chapter book.鈥� Like in many enclaves that dot the Florida panhandle, Liberty County permits corporal punishment as a form of student discipline. But her flogging, the honors student said, went much further: She alleged sexual assault and filed a police report, reported Mark Keierleber. Daniels joined a student-led movement to change Florida law that has latched onto the GOP-led parental rights movement. 

Interactive: See How Student Achievement Gaps Are Growing in Your State

By Chad Aldeman

In 2012, then-President Barack Obama freed states from the accountability provisions of No Child Left Behind in exchange for reforms related to standards, assessments and teacher evaluations. That relaxing of school and district accountability pressures corresponded with a decline in student performance across the country that is still being felt 鈥� achievement gaps are growing across subjects and all across the country. To illustrate these alarming discrepancies, contributor Chad Aldeman and Eamonn Fitzmaurice, 社区黑料鈥檚 art and technology director, created an interactive tool that enables you to see what’s happening with student performance in your state.

Left Powerless: Non-English鈥揝peaking Parents Denied Vital Translation Services

by Amanda Geduld

Flouting federal laws, K-12 public schools routinely fail to provide qualified interpreters to non-English-speaking families. Parents must instead rely on Google translate, their own kid or a bilingual staff member who isn鈥檛 a trained interpreter for issues as simple as their child鈥檚 absence for a day or as complex and intimidating as a special education meeting or a school disciplinary hearing. The problem is pervasive and vastly underreported, experts told Amanda Geduld. School leaders say they are trying their best, but lack the money and staffing to meet the need. 

Failed West Virginia Microschool Fuels State Probe and Some Soul-Searching

By Linda Jacobson

The West Virginia treasurer鈥檚 investigation into a microschool, funded with education savings accounts, offers a glimpse into an emerging market that has mushroomed since the pandemic. When the program shut down after a few months, parents were left demanding their money back and scrambling to find other arrangements for their children. The example, experts say, shows that it takes more than good intentions to provide a quality education program. As one parent told Linda Jacobson, 鈥淚 should have seen the red flags.鈥�

In the Rush to Covid Recovery, Did We Forget About Our Youngest Learners?

by Lauren Camera

The country鈥檚 youngest elementary school students suffered steep academic setbacks in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic 鈥� just like students in older grades. But new research shows that they aren鈥檛 catching back up to pre-pandemic levels in reading and math the way older students are. And when it comes to math, many are falling even further behind. 鈥淲e were shocked when we first saw the data,鈥� Kristen Huff, vice president of assessment and research at Curriculum Associates, told Lauren Camera.

Whether it鈥檚 a research project on the Civil War or a science experiment on volcano eruptions, students in the Colonial School District near Wilmington, Delaware, can look up just about anything on their school-provided laptops.

But in one instance, an elementary school student searched 鈥渉ow to die.鈥�

In that case, Meghan Feby, an elementary school counselor in the district, got a phone call through a platform called , whose algorithm flagged the phrase. The system sold by educational software company GoGuardian allows schools to monitor and analyze what students are doing on school-issued devices and flag any activities that signal a risk of self-harm or threats to others.

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The student who had searched 鈥渉ow to die鈥� did not want to die and showed no indicators of distress, Feby said 鈥� the student was looking for information but in no danger. Still, she values the program.

鈥淚鈥檝e gotten into some situations with GoGuardian where I鈥檓 really happy that they came to us and we were able to intervene,鈥� Feby said.

School districts across the country have widely adopted such computer monitoring platforms. With the youth mental health crisis worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and school violence affecting more K-12 students nationwide, teachers are desperate for a solution, experts say.

But critics worry about the lack of transparency from companies that have the power to monitor students and choose when to alert school personnel. Constant student surveillance also raises concerns regarding student data, privacy and free speech.

While available for more than a decade, the programs saw a surge in use during the pandemic as students transitioned to online learning from home, said Jennifer Jones, a staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute.

鈥淚 think because there are all kinds of issues that school districts have to contend with 鈥� like student mental health issues and the dangers of school shootings 鈥� I think they [school districts] just view these as cheap, quick ways to address the problem without interrogating the free speech and privacy implications in a more thoughtful way,鈥� Jones said.

According to the most recent youth risk behavior from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly all indicators of poor mental health, suicidal thoughts and suicidal behaviors increased from 2013 to 2023. During the same period, the percentage of high school students who were threatened or injured at school, missed school because of safety concerns or experienced forced sex increased, according to the CDC .

And the threat of school shootings remains on many educators鈥� minds. Since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, more than 383,000 students have experienced gun violence at school, according to .

GoGuardian CEO Rich Preece told Stateline that about half of the K-12 public schools in the United States have installed the company鈥檚 platforms.

As her school鈥檚 designee, Feby gets an alert when a student uses certain search terms or combinations of words on their school-issued laptops. 鈥淚t will either come to me as an email, or, if it is very high risk, it comes as a phone call.鈥�

Once she鈥檚 notified, Feby will decide whether to meet with the student or call the child鈥檚 home. If the system flags troubling activity outside of school hours, GoGuardian Beacon contacts another person in the county 鈥� including law enforcement, in some school districts.

Feby said she鈥檚 had some false alarms. One student was flagged because of the song lyrics she had looked up. Another one had searched for something related to anime.

About a third of the students in Feby鈥檚 school come from a home where English isn鈥檛 their first language, so students often use worrisome English terms inadvertently. Kids can also be curious, she said.

Still, having GoGuardian in the classroom is important, Feby said. Before she became a counselor 10 years ago, she was a school teacher. And after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, she realized school safety was more important than ever.

Data and privacy

Teddy Hartman, GoGuardian鈥檚 head of privacy, taught high school English literature in East Los Angeles and was a school administrator before joining the technology company about four years ago.

Hartman was brought to GoGuardian to help with creating a robust privacy program, he said, including guardrails on its use of artificial intelligence.

鈥淲e thought, 鈥楬ow can we co-create with educators, the best of the data scientists, the best of the technologists, while also remembering that students and our educators are first and foremost?鈥欌�� Hartman said.

GoGuardian isn鈥檛 using any student data outside of the agreements that school districts have allowed, and that data isn鈥檛 used to train the company鈥檚 AI, Hartman said. Companies that regulate what children can do online are also required to adhere to regarding the safety and privacy of minors, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Children鈥檚 Online Privacy Protection Rule.

But privacy experts are still concerned about just how much access these types of companies should have to student data.

School districts across the country are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on contracts with some of the leading computer monitoring vendors 鈥� including GoGuardian, Gaggle and others 鈥� without fully assessing the privacy and civil rights implications, said Clarence Okoh, a senior attorney at the Center on Privacy and Technology at the Georgetown University Law Center.

In 2021, while many schools were just beginning to see the effects of online learning, 社区黑料, a nonprofit news outlet covering education, published an investigation into how Gaggle was operating in Minneapolis schools. Hundreds of documents revealed how students at one school system were subject to constant digital surveillance long after the school day was over, including at home, the outlet reported.

That level of pervasive surveillance can have far-reaching implications, Okoh said. For one, in jurisdictions where legislators have expanded censorship of 鈥渄ivisive concepts鈥� in schools, including critical race theory and LGBTQ+ themes, the ability for schools to monitor conversations including those terms is concerning, he said.

A by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital rights group based in San Francisco, illustrates what kinds of keyword triggers are blocked or flagged for administrators. In one example, GoGuardian had flagged a student for visiting the text of a Bible verse including the word 鈥渘aked,鈥� the report said. In another instance, a Texas House of Representatives site with information regarding 鈥渃annabis鈥� bills was flagged.

GoGuardian and Gaggle both also dropped LGBTQ+ terms from their keyword lists after the foundation鈥檚 initial records request, the group said.

But getting a full understanding of the way these companies monitor students is challenging because of a lack of transparency, Jones said. It鈥檚 difficult to get information from private tech companies, and the majority of their data isn鈥檛 made public, she said.

Do they work?

Years before the 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the school district purchased a technology service to monitor what students were doing on social media, according to . The district sent two payments to the Social Sentinel company totaling more than $9,900, according to the paper.

While the cost varies, some school districts are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on online monitoring programs. Muscogee County School District in Georgia paid $137,829 in initial costs to install GoGuardian on the district鈥檚 Chromebooks, . In Maryland, Montgomery County Public Schools for the 2024-2025 school year after spending $230,000 annually on it, later , according to the Wootton Common Sense.

Despite the spending, there鈥檚 no way to prove that these technologies work, said Chad Marlow, a senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union who authored a on education surveillance programs.

In 2019, Bark, a content monitoring platform, claimed to have helped prevent 16 school shootings in a describing their Bark for Schools program. The Gaggle company website says it 5,790 lives between 2018 and 2023.

These data points are measured by the number of alerts the systems generate that indicate a student may be very close to harming themselves or others. But there is little evidence that this kind of school safety technology is effective, according to the ACLU report.

鈥淵ou cannot use data to say that, if there wasn鈥檛 an intervention, something would have happened,鈥� Marlow said.

Computer monitoring programs are just one example of an overall increase in school surveillance nationwide, including cameras, facial recognition technology and more. And increased surveillance does not necessarily deter harmful conduct, Marlow said.

鈥淎 lot of schools are saying, 鈥榊ou know what, we鈥檝e $50,000 to spend, I鈥檓 going to spend it on a student surveillance product that doesn鈥檛 work, instead of a door that locks or a mental health counselor,鈥欌�� Marlow said.

Some experts are advocating for more mental health resources, including hiring more guidance counselors, and school policies that support mental health, which could prevent violence or suicide, Jones said. programs, including volunteer work or community events, also can contribute to emotional and mental well-being.

But that鈥檚 in an ideal world, GoGuardian鈥檚 Hartman said. Computer monitoring platforms aren鈥檛 the only solution for solving the youth mental health and violence epidemic, but they aim to help, he said.

鈥淲e were founded by engineers,鈥� Hartman said. 鈥淪o, in our slice of this world, is there something we can do, from a school technology perspective that can help by being a tool in the toolbox? It鈥檚 not an end-all, be-all.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on and .

Medusa鈥檚 back at it. 

The cybergang, which has become notorious for devastating ransomware attacks on K-12 school systems, has claimed the Providence, Rhode Island, district as its latest victim, leaking tens of thousands of sensitive student records on its Telegram channel. 

Yet the district remains unaware 鈥� or is perhaps unwilling to admit 鈥� that students鈥� private affairs have entered the public domain. Sexual misconduct reports. Special education records. Medical records. Vaccine histories. All are available with a Google search and a few mouse clicks. 

So why won鈥檛 the district acknowledge to parents and students that their information was stolen? It鈥檚 a refusal I鈥檝e seen repeated again and again while reporting on school cyberattacks over the last few years. 

Earlier this month, the Providence district spokesman told reporters that an ongoing investigation had uncovered that any personal information for students has been impacted.鈥� Yet when 社区黑料 presented the district this week with evidence to the contrary, he doubled down. Third-party consultants are conducting 鈥渁 comprehensive review鈥� to determine what files were stolen, he told 社区黑料 without uttering the word 鈥渟tudent.鈥� 

The files have been available for download for nearly a month. The state education department spokesperson told me 鈥� in an unsolicited phone call this week after catching wind of my latest investigation 鈥� that nobody (except me, apparently) was previously able to access the breached records. 

鈥淣o one had actually gone in to see the files,鈥� he said. 

Click here to read my latest story on the K-12 ransomware beat. And thank you to our partners at The Boston Globe our story Friday.

In the news

As Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City and a former police officer, faces not one but four (!) criminal investigations, federal agents searched the offices of the city police department鈥檚 school safety division. The raid was part of an inquiry into a possible bribery scheme involving a company that sells panic buttons to districts nationwide. |

鈥楤lack girls were always the ones who got disciplined鈥�: Black girls face harsher and more frequent disciplinary actions than their white female classmates 鈥� in the same schools and for similar behaviors 鈥� according to a new Government Accountability Office report on racial disparities in student suspensions. | 社区黑料

Kids who are removed from their homes for abuse or neglect routinely find themselves sleeping in the offices of child protective services. Here鈥檚 how often it happens in Indiana. |

鈥業鈥檝e got to finish up my school shooter outfit, just kidding鈥�: Prosecutors say the father of a teenager accused of unleashing a deadly mass shooting at his Georgia high school knew the boy was obsessed with previous gunmen 鈥� and had a shrine above his bed to the school shooter in Parkland, Florida. |

Specialized schools in Michigan that serve students with complex behavioral issues routinely call the cops for backup. The frequent calls, critics argue, offer evidence the schools are failing the kids they鈥檙e designed to help. |

How DACA helps everyone: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals 鈥� the Obama-era policy that provides deportation relief to undocumented immigrants who entered the country as young children 鈥� is a boon for U.S.-born kids, a new study suggests. The program 鈥渋mproves test scores and educational attainment not only for those directly eligible, but also for their peers.鈥� |

How a 15-word statement led to the arrest of a 10-year-old boy with autism at his Texas elementary school. |

The Massachusetts attorney general鈥檚 office has sued TikTok, alleging the social media company knew its service was addictive to teens and was associated with sleep disruption, depression and anxiety. |

Nov. 5 is approaching 鈥� And schools worry about the safety of their students when their campuses are used as polling locations. |

Utah lawmakers earmarked $100 million for schools to meet new security requirements, including panic buttons, locks and armed guards. The actual price tag? $800 million. |

ICYMI @The74

1st Federal Survey of Trans Students: 72% Feel 鈥楬opeless,鈥� 1 in 4 Tried Suicide

L.A. Housing Crisis Hits LAUSD as Number of Homeless Students Continues to Grow

NYC Schools Launch Anti-Hate Hotline as Antisemitism and Islamophobia Reports Rise

Banned Books Find Shelter in Maryland 鈥楽anctuary Library鈥�

Emotional Support

Leo, who lives with my colleague Jo Napolitano, came prepared for school photo day.

Several of the documents were internal memos about special education services and litigation brought against the district by two former students who alleged they’d been sexually assaulted. One spreadsheet identified at least 60 students struggling with mental health issues, including some who had been hospitalized or engaged in self harm.

Investigators said that in the future, attorneys should review and label files before a parent inspects them and urged staff throughout the district to be trained on the 鈥渋mportance of redacting and safeguarding confidential information.鈥� In Thursday, Superintendent Michelle Reid said the district would comply with all of the recommendations.

The brief summary of leaves several questions unanswered, including which district officials were responsible for the disclosure and how such a massive breach occurred after a string of similar incidents in recent years.

社区黑料 first reported on the most recent episode on Nov. 1, two weeks after Callie Oettinger, a parent in the district, reviewed documents that she requested on her own children, a daughter in high school and a son who graduated in 2022.听She discovered later that the information she copied and downloaded onto thumb drives included private information on thousands of other students.

The disclosure was just the latest in a series of student privacy incidents within the 178,000-student district in recent years. In 2020, obtained Social Security numbers, birthdates and other data on over 170,000 students and employees. In the early weeks of the pandemic, students were subjected to racist and obscene comments and other harassment in that weren鈥檛 protected with a password. And multiple parents told 社区黑料 they have mistakenly received other students鈥� special education records or that their children鈥檚 information has been shared with other parents or staff members. 

In 2019, a former superintendent apologized when staff members forwarded information on Oettinger鈥檚 son to the wrong people and promised to train staff to prevent future occurences. But in 2021, the district released private data on about a dozen students to another parent, Debra Tisler. Tisler shared the information with Oettinger, a special education advocate, who published redacted versions on . The district sued both parents to get the records back, but .听

A day after 社区黑料鈥檚 report, Reid apologized and announced that a firm with expertise in cybersecurity 鈥� 鈥� would investigate how the incident occured. Nearly six weeks later, parents whose children were named in the records received a letter notifying them of the disclosure and the district set up a phone line to provide them with more information.听

The summary of the investigation showed that 鈥渙lder thumb drives containing unredacted files鈥� were 鈥渦nintentionally and unknowingly left within boxes accessible鈥� to Oettinger when she went to her local high school for an in-person review of her children鈥檚 records. The probe also included 鈥渁 forensic examination of a laptop鈥� Oettinger used while she was there.

But Oettinger said the lead investigator, Beth Waller, never contacted her. Waller did not return calls or emails seeking comment.听

Reid鈥檚 letter to families stated that Oettinger and her attorney 鈥減rovided declarations under oath and penalty of perjury stating they have deleted and do not have any of the identifiable student information that was involved in this incident.鈥�

Oettinger said she wished the district had made greater efforts to clarify that she didn鈥檛 release any student鈥檚 private information.听

She published examples of the documents on her advocacy website to further underscore the point that the district didn鈥檛 protect sensitive student data. But she redacted personal identifying information before posting.听

The investigators called the incident 鈥渁 unique set of circumstances鈥� and an 鈥渦nusual review,鈥� another description Oettinger objects to. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act gives parents the right to review records in person.听

In Fairfax, parents are split over whether Oettinger did the right thing in failing to initially inform the district of the error.听

鈥淗ow do we file a lawsuit against her?鈥� one asked on Facebook. 鈥淟et鈥檚 def (sic) all band together!鈥�

Another wrote, 鈥淒o you understand the stress and anxiety you have caused to thousands of families in your self-righteous quest for 鈥榡ustice?鈥� 鈥�

But Oettinger said past privacy violations made her skeptical that the district would properly address the matter.

Other parents defended Oettinger鈥檚 actions. 鈥淚f she hadn’t reported it to the public, we would never have known about it,鈥� said Jill Janson, who has two children whose information were included in the records released. 鈥淚f [Fairfax County Public Schools] isn’t uber careful with a parent they have a long history with regarding data spills, then just how careful are they with a regular person off the street?鈥�

Oettinger has complained several times to the Virginia Department of Education about the October disclosure. But state officials maintain that the district does not have a systemic problem. 

In October, following a previous complaint, the state said the district had assured officials that staff members would receive training on student privacy. That training began Oct. 31, but the district did not respond to a question on how many staff members completed it.听

鈥淭his school division is the Commonwealth鈥檚 largest,鈥� Cecil Creasey Jr., a state hearing officer, wrote Dec. 11 when he ruled on an appeal from Oettinger. The district鈥檚 size, he said, is not an excuse, but helps to explain why such errors聽occurred.

But Oettinger and other critics argue the district should be able to secure student privacy given the millions of dollars it spends on legal fees.

鈥淚 have heard 鈥榟uman error鈥� too many times through the years,鈥� Oettinger said. 鈥淚t isn鈥檛 an excuse. Can you imagine the president accidentally including Putin in an email and then blaming human error?鈥�

Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an last month to create a AI governing board for Pennsylvania that will guide the commonwealth鈥檚 use of generative artificial intelligence, including developing training programs for state employees.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to let AI happen to us,鈥� Shapiro said. 鈥淲e want to be part of helping develop AI for the betterment of our citizens.鈥�

The Sept. 20 order establishes a set of 鈥渃ore values鈥� including privacy, safety, fairness, accuracy, and employee empowerment. It will be made up of 鈥渟enior administration officials and experts in the field,鈥� and begin meeting next week, the governor said.

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Shapiro signed the order at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, which will work with the AI governing board to guide the state鈥檚 use of the technology.

鈥淎rtificial intelligence is rapidly transforming nearly every sector of our economy,鈥� CMU President Farnam Jahanian said at the event. 鈥淚鈥檓 grateful to have a leader in Harrisburg that recognizes the potential and the urgency of this moment.鈥�

Shapiro and other state officials at the announcement stressed that the state鈥檚 use of AI won鈥檛 replace human workers.

鈥淚f we take the course that other states and countries have taken to completely ban AI for government purposes. we鈥檙e going to seriously lose out on the opportunity presented to us to improve government services for Pennsylvanians,鈥� Shapiro said. 鈥淎t the same time, know that AI will never replace the ingenuity, the creativity, and the lived experience of our outstanding workforce in the commonwealth. A tool, no matter how sophisticated, accomplishes nothing without a hand to wield it.鈥�

As part of the executive order, the Shapiro administration will create a two-year fellowship program for post-bachelor, masters鈥� and doctoral candidates who will work on AI issues with state agencies.

Shapiro said Pennsylvania public safety agencies are working with AI experts to address the threats AI poses, and his administration is 鈥渢aking a multi-agency approach鈥� in protecting Pennsylvania consumers from potential AI security threats, such as fraud.

鈥淭his executive order is the product of months of careful consideration and planning around AI with a belief that we need to embrace AI, not fear it, but we need to deploy it responsibly,鈥� he said.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on and .

Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey are calling on the Federal Communications Commission to clarify how schools should monitor students鈥� online activities, that educators鈥� widespread use of digital surveillance tools could trample students鈥� civil rights.

They also want the U.S. Education Department to start collecting data on the tools that could highlight whether they have disproportionate 鈥� and potentially harmful 鈥� effects on certain student groups. 

In October, the senators asked four education technology companies that keep tabs on the online activity of millions of students across the country 鈥� often 24 hours a day, seven days a week 鈥� to provide information on how they use artificial intelligence to glean their information. 

Based on their responses, the senators said:

• The companies鈥� software may be misused to identify students who are violating school disciplinary rules. They cited a recent survey where 43% of teachers reported their schools employ the monitoring systems for this purpose, potentially increasing contact between police and students and worsening the school-to-prison pipeline.

• The companies have not attempted to determine whether their products disproportionately target students of color, who already face harsher and more frequent school discipline, or other vulnerable groups, like LGBTQ youth.

• Schools, parents and communities are not being appropriately informed of the use 鈥� and potential misuse 鈥� of the data. Three of the four companies indicated they do not directly alert students and guardians of their surveillance.

Warren and Markey concluded a dire 鈥渘eed for federal action to protect students鈥� civil rights, safety and privacy.鈥�

鈥淲hile the intent of these products, many of which monitor students鈥� online activity around the clock, may be to protect student safety, they raise significant privacy and equity concerns,鈥� the lawmakers wrote. 鈥淪tudies have highlighted unintended but harmful consequences of student activity monitoring software that fall disproportionately on vulnerable populations.鈥�

An FCC spokesperson said they鈥檙e reviewing the and an Education Department spokesperson said they 鈥渓ook forward to corresponding with the senators鈥� about its findings.

Lawmakers鈥� inquiry into the business practices of school security companies Gaggle, GoGuardian, Securly and Bark Technologies is the first congressional investigation into student surveillance tools, whose use grew dramatically during the pandemic when  learning shifted online.

It follows on the heels of investigative reporting by 社区黑料 into Gaggle, which uses artificial intelligence and a team of human content moderators to track the online behaviors of more than 5 million students. 社区黑料 used public records to expose how Gaggle鈥檚 algorithm and its hourly-wage workers sift through billions of student communications each year in search of references to violence and self harm, subjecting youth to constant digital surveillance with steep implications for their privacy. Gaggle, whose tools track students on their school-issued Google and Microsoft accounts, reported a during the pandemic.

Bark didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment. Securly spokesman Josh Mukai said in a statement that the company is reviewing the senators鈥� March 30 report and looks forward 鈥渢o continuing our dialogue with Senators Warren and Markey on the important topics they have raised.鈥�

鈥淧arents expect that schools will keep children safe while in the classroom, on a field trip or while riding on a bus,鈥� GoGuardian spokesman Jeff Gordon said in a statement. 鈥淪chools also have a responsibility to keep students safe in digital spaces and on school-issued devices.鈥� 

Gaggle Founder and CEO Jeff Patterson submitted a statement after this article was published. He said the company is reviewing the lawmakers鈥� recommendations 鈥渢o assess how we can further strengthen our work to better protect students.鈥�

鈥淲e want to ensure our technology is effectively supporting student safety without creating unintended risks or harms,鈥� Patterson continued. 鈥淲e have taken steps over the years to ensure effective privacy protections and mitigate bias in our platform, but welcome continued dialogue that will help make sure tools like Gaggle can continue to be used to support students and educators.鈥�

Bark Technologies CEO Brian Bason wrote in a letter to  lawmakers that AI-driven technology could be used to solve the country鈥檚 鈥渢errible history of bias in school discipline鈥� by removing the decisions of individual teachers and administrators.

鈥淲hile any system, including AI-based solutions, inherently have some bias, if implemented correctly AI-based solutions can substantially reduce the bias that students face,鈥� Bason wrote.

As to the question of whether their surveillance exacerbates the school-to-prison pipeline,  the companies鈥� letters acknowledge in certain cases they contact police to conduct welfare checks on students. Securly noted in its letter that in some instances, education leaders 鈥減refer that we contact public safety agencies directly in lieu of a district contact.鈥�

Under the Clinton-era , passed in 2000, public schools and libraries are required to filter and monitor students鈥� internet use to ensure they don鈥檛 access material 鈥渉armful to minors,鈥� such as pornography. Districts have cited the law to justify the adoption of AI-driven surveillance tools that have proliferated in recent years. Student privacy advocates argue the tools go far beyond the federal mandate and have called on the FCC to clarify the law鈥檚 scope. Meanwhile, advocates have questioned whether schools鈥� use of digital surveillance tools to monitor students at home violates Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

In a recent survey by the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology, 81 percent of teachers said they used software to track students鈥� computer activity, including to block obscene material or monitor their screens in real time. A majority of parents said they worried about student data getting shared with the police and more than half of students said they decline to share their 鈥渢rue thoughts or ideas because I know what I do online is being monitored.鈥�  

Elizabeth Laird, the group鈥檚 director of equity in civic technology, said it has been calling on student surveillance companies to be more transparent about their business practices but it鈥檚 鈥渄isappointing that it took a letter from Congress to get this information.鈥� She said she hopes the FCC and Education Department adopt lawmakers鈥� recommendations.

鈥淣one of these companies have researched whether their products are biased against certain groups of students,鈥� she said in an email while questioning their justification for holding off on such an inquiry. 鈥淭hey cite privacy as the reason for not doing so while simultaneously monitoring students鈥� messages, documents and sites visited 24 hours a day, seven days a week.鈥� 

社区黑料鈥檚 investigation, which used data on Gaggle鈥檚 foothold in Minneapolis Public Schools, failed to identify whether the tool鈥檚 algorithm disproportionately targeted Black students, who are more often subjected to student discipline than their white classmates. However, it highlighted instances in which keywords like 鈥済ay鈥� and 鈥渓esbian鈥� were flagged, potentially subjecting LGBTQ youth to heightened surveillance for discussing their sexual orientation. 

Amelia Vance, an attorney and student privacy expert, said she was intrigued that the companies pushed back on the idea that their tools are used to discipline students since the federal monitoring requirement was meant to keep kids from consuming inappropriate content online and likely face consequences for viewing violent or sexually explicit materials. She agreed the companies should research their algorithms for potential biases and would benefit from additional transparency. 

However, Vance said in an email that FCC clarification 鈥渨ould do little at best and may provide counterproductive guidance at worst.鈥� Many schools, she said, are likely to use the tools regardless of the federal rules. 

鈥淪chools aren鈥檛 required to monitor social media, and many have chosen to do so anyway,鈥� said Vance, the co-founder and president of Public Interest Privacy Consulting. Some school safety advocates are actively lobbying lawmakers to expand student monitoring requirements, she said. 

Asking the FCC to issue guidance 鈥渃ould actually be counterproductive to the goal of limiting monitoring and ensuring more privacy protections for students since it is possible that the FCC could require a higher level of monitoring.鈥�

Read the letters from Gaggle, GoGuardian, Securly and Bark Technologies: 

A student monitoring company that thousands of schools used during remote and hybrid learning to ensure students were on task may have inadvertently exposed millions of kids to hackers online, according to a report released Monday by the security software company McAfee Enterprise.

The , conducted by the company’s Advanced Threat Research team, discovered the bug in the software, which is used by some 3 million teachers and students across 9,000 school systems globally, including in the U.S. The software allows teachers to monitor and control how students use school-issued computers in real time, block websites and freeze their computer screens if they鈥檙e found to be off task.

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This is the second time in less than a year that McAfee researchers have found vulnerabilities in Netop鈥檚 education software 鈥� glitches that to gain control over students鈥� computers, including their webcams and microphones. It鈥檚 unclear whether the software had been breached by anyone other than the researchers. In a $4 billion deal over the summer, McAfee Corp. sold off the business-focused McAfee Enterprise to focus on consumer cybersecurity.

鈥淭his speaks to the power of responsible disclosure and 鈥榖eating the bad guys to the punch鈥� in terms of providing vendors insights to the flaws in their products and an appropriate time period to produce fixes,鈥� Doug McKee, McAfee鈥檚 principal engineer and senior security researcher, and Steve Povolny, the company鈥檚 head of advanced threat research, said in an emailed statement.

鈥淲e do believe this bug is highly likely to be exploitable, and a determined attacker may be able to leverage the attack鈥� to breach the system.

Netop, which bills its products as a way to 鈥渒eep students on task, no matter where class is held,鈥� did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

While the research comes as many U.S. students return to classrooms for in-person learning, cyberattacks targeting K-12 school districts 鈥� already an issue before the pandemic 鈥� have worsened throughout it. In the last month, educational organizations were , according to Microsoft Security Intelligence. In fact, educational organizations accounted for nearly two-thirds of such attacks globally. Publicly disclosed computer attacks against schools in 2020.

To conduct the research, McAfee relied on a free trial of Netop to analyze the program鈥檚 underlying code using an automated testing technique called 鈥渇uzzing,鈥� in which they provided the software with malformed data to cause a crash. As a result, they found a bug in the way the program transmits digital images of students鈥� screens to teachers that could be exploited to attack children with malware, ransomware, collect their personal information or to access the computers鈥� webcams.

In March, that allowed hackers to 鈥済ain full control over students’ computers.鈥� Among the issues, researchers discovered that communications between teachers and students through the service were unencrypted, meaning they weren鈥檛 protected by a code that blocks unauthorized access.

In a blog post, McAfee explained how the , noting that while the company鈥檚 monitoring software 鈥渕ay seem like a viable option for holding students accountable in the virtual classroom, it could allow a hacker to spy on the contents of the students鈥� devices.鈥�

鈥淚f a hacker is able to gain full control over all target systems using the vulnerable software, they can equally bridge the gap from a virtual attack to the physical environment,鈥� the blog post explained. 鈥淭he hacker could enable webcams and microphones on the target system, allowing them to physically observe your child and their surrounding environment.鈥�

Multiple education technology companies have experienced hacks and other digital vulnerabilities during the pandemic. In July 2020, for example, , which provides a live proctoring service to help prevent cheating, and published the personal information of more than 444,000 students to an online forum.

Privacy and civil rights groups have raised concerns for years about the risks posed by student surveillance tools, including issues related to cybersecurity and privacy. Perhaps most famously, a suburban Philadelphia school district reached in 2010 after educators used computer webcams to surveil students at home without their knowledge.

Earlier this month, 社区黑料 published an in-depth investigation about how another student surveillance company, Gaggle, subjects children to relentless digital surveillance as it monitors students鈥� online activity 鈥� both in classrooms and at home 鈥� in search of keywords that could indicate problematicor potentially harmful behaviors. Among other concerns, privacy advocates argue that schools鈥� broad collection of student information could .

McAfee says it notified Netop of its initial findings in December 2020 and the company rectified 鈥渕any of the critical vulnerabilities鈥� by February 2021. The security giant alerted Netop to the latest bug in June and the company has worked 鈥渢owards effective mitigations,鈥� according to McAfee, but has not yet announced a permanent fix.