U.S. Rep. Robert C. Scott, who leads the House Committee on Education and Labor, called for a review of the program by the Department of Education. He said in a statement that he's “encouraged" the agency is looking into the program, which he called “disturbing."
Scott, a Democrat from Virginia, said evidence shows schools suspend or expel Black and Latino students more frequently than their white peers for similar offenses. “Therefore, any law enforcement system that uses school discipline data to identify children as potential criminals would not only be illegal, but also racially biased.”
The sheriff's office, in a statement, maintained that it takes a list of some 20,000 students flagged by the school district as being “at risk" and narrows it “to approximately 330 students who are considered ‘at-risk' by the school district AND have had law enforcement-related interactions with the Pasco Sheriff’s Office."