Pasco superintendent defends sharing data with sheriff, as teachers object
The comments followed a Times investigation that revealed the Sheriffâs Office was using grades to compile a list of kids at-risk of becoming criminals. âPeople post stuff to the internet,â he said.
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Pasco County school superintendent Kurt Browning defended sharing student information with the Pasco County Sheriffâs Office at a School Board meeting on Tuesday. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]
Updated Dec. 16, 2020
LAND Oâ LAKES â Pasco Superintendent Kurt Browning angrily defended the district sharing private student data with the Sheriffâs Office during a Tuesday School Board meeting, after parents and teachers called for changes to a controversial program that uses the data to identify kids who could âfall into a life of crime.â
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. – Some parents and teachers are concerned over a Florida sheriff’s database that is used to profile students as potential criminals.
The Pasco County Council PTA asked school district officials to review the program and its data sharing agreement with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies, the Tampa Bay Times reported Friday.
In addition, a group of teachers is circulating a petition calling for the sheriff’s database of “at-risk” children to be deleted, the newspaper reported. They want the district to release demographic information on the students, and transfer some of the funding that covers school resource officers to academic and mental health resources.
Some parents and teachers in the Tampa Bay area are asking for changes in a program used by a Florida sheriff to profile students as potential criminals.
Associated PressDecember 11, 2020 GMT
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. (AP) Some parents and teachers in the Tampa Bay area are asking for changes in a program used by a Florida sheriff to profile students as potential criminals.
The Pasco County Council PTA asked school district officials to review the program and its data sharing agreement with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies, the Tampa Bay Times reported Friday.
In addition, a group of teachers is circulating a petition calling for the sheriff’s database of “at-risk” children to be deleted, the newspaper reported. They want the district to release demographic information on the students, and transfer some of the funding that covers school resource officers to academic and mental health resources.
Pasco PTA: Use of school data to flag potential criminals âunacceptableâ
Parents and teachers demanded reviews into the Sheriffâs Office program. Some called for it to be canceled.
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Pasco Schools superintendent Kurt Browning with Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco at a 2015 press conference. [ Times (2015) ]
Updated Dec. 11, 2020
Pasco County parents and teachers are calling for changes to a secretive Sheriffâs Office program that uses student data to profile schoolchildren as potential future criminals, with some demanding the practice be stopped entirely.
In a letter to the school district, the Pasco County Council PTA asked for reviews of the program and the districtâs data-sharing agreements with the Sheriffâs Office and other agencies.