Pasco school district faces federal probe after sharing student information with sheriffâs office article
LAND O LAKES, Fla. - The U.S. Department of Education is taking a closer look at a Pasco County School District and Pasco County Sheriff’s Office program that has some parents and teachers upset. The controversy stems from the question of what student information is being shared with the sheriff’s office and what that information is being used for.
Federal officials have opened the investigation into Pasco County schools to determine whether or not they broke federal law by sharing students information with the sheriff’s office.
Federal investigators to probe Pasco County School District policing plan
FILE
and last updated 2021-04-19 10:29:19-04
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. â The U.S. Department of Education has opened an investigation into whether a Florida school district broke federal law when it shared private information about students with the local sheriffâs office.
The Pasco County School District shared information on student grades, discipline and attendance with the Pasco County Sheriffâs Office.
The agency then used the data to compile a list of students officials believed could âfall into a life of crime.â
The agency is already facing a federal lawsuit that the intelligence-based policing program violates peopleâs rights by improperly targeting and harassing them.
7 hours ago by The Associated Press (AP)
Photo: Anita Jankovic
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NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. (AP) The U.S. Department of Education has opened an investigation into whether a Florida school district broke federal law when it shared private information about students with the local sheriff’s office.
The Pasco County School District shared information on student grades, discipline and attendance with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.
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.
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