Pasco Revises Controversial Student Information Sharing Policy

LAND O' LAKES, FL — In response to accusations that the Pasco County Sheriff's Office is using "predictive policing" to identify children likely to become criminals, the sheriff and school system has revised its agreement regarding the sharing of information about students.

The new agreement was unanimously approved by the Pasco County School Board at Tuesday's regularly scheduled meeting.

Under the revised agreement, school resource officers' will no longer be able to obtain student data, including student grades, attendance and discipline. Additionally, SROs will no longer have access to the school district's Early Warning System, which designates which students are considered off-track, on-track or at-risk.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said the updated document is the result of a review of the agreement between the school district and sheriff's office mandated by the Florida Legislature in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act that requires information about students to be shared with law enforcement.

On Feb. 14, 2018, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz was accused of fatally shooting 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The shooting raised questions about whether Cruz's history of behavioral issues dating back to middle school had been adequately communicated to law enforcement and school officials.

As a result of recommendations by a task force headed by Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the Legislature approved a bill requiring the formation of threat assessment teams in school districts headed by an analyst with the sheriff's office funded by a U.S. Department of Justice grant.

Under Tuesday's agreement, the analyst mandated by the Legislature will continue to have access to information on students. The analyst also will continue to provide the school district with appropriate information from law enforcement that impacts the safety and security of students, schools and the community.

In addition, members of the Sheriff's Office Real Time Crime Center will have access to information for school threat assessments and public safety emergencies, such as a missing or abducted child or a threat to a school campus. However, the new agreement said this access will not include the grades of students.

The updated agreement also provides an audit process in which sheriff's office personnel will make a record of any school district data they access, as well as the reason it was necessary to access the information, in line with legislative mandates.

Nocco said these updates clarify practices and procedures that have been in place for more than 20 years in Pasco County.

He added that these updates will have no impact on the safety and security of students, faculty and staff in Pasco County's schools.

"This amended agreement will not in any way compromise the safety and security of students, staff and faculty at Pasco County's schools," said Nocco. "It also will not impact our ongoing initiatives related to mental health and substance abuse, such as the successful #YouMatter campaign. We are voluntarily making this update to our agreement with the Pasco County School Board to ease any anxiety that parents may have as a result of misinformation perpetuated by media reports."

Following reports that students were being targeted by deputies based on information the school district shared with the sheriff's office, a group of parents represented by the Institute of Justice, a nonprofit public interest law firm, filed a lawsuit in federal court against Nocco.

In the lawsuit filed in March, parents accused the sheriff of using a "dystopian" policing program to label and harass their children "for crimes they have not committed and may never commit."

"To be clear, over the 20 years that our SROs have had access to this information, we have never relied on grades, attendance or school discipline to deem any child at risk for being a future criminal, nor do we use predictive policing, and this update to policy just further clarifies and reflects that reality," Nocco said. "In addition, it is important to note that these positions are the only ones who had access to this information and it was never shared with patrol deputies or detectives."

"This agreement strikes an appropriate balance between sharing and the continued safeguarding of student privacy," said Kurt Browning, superintendent of Pasco Schools, who was the target of criticism for sharing information with the sheriff's office. "Our partnership with the sheriff's office is strong and our students and staff will continue to benefit from our excellent working relationship."

Despite these updated provisions, Nocco said SROs will continue to mentor students and work with parents or guardians of those children who have engaged in criminal behavior as part of the sheriff's office's diversion program, said Nocco.

He said SROs will also continue to focus on keeping children, faculty and staff safe, while serving as coaches, club leaders and positive influences in the schools in which they serve.

The SRO program was established in Pasco County schools more than 30 years ago, and agreements, practices and trainings have been updated numerous times as appropriate, Nocco said.

Coalition Responds, Plans Town Meeting

The Southern Poverty Law Center was quick to criticize the agreement, noting that the revised agreement wasn't on the school board's agenda and there was no chance for public input.

"The Pasco County School Board and Sheriff's Office continued its deception under the highly controversial predictive policing program when it announces 'revisions' to their student data-sharing agreement," said the center in a statement.

The PASCO (People Against the Surveillance of Children and Overpolicing) Coaltion made up of 30 local, state and national organizations, said the revised agreement didn't go far enough.

“The PASCO Coalition is extremely disappointed by the Pasco Sheriff’s Office and the Pasco County School Board’s announcement of 'revisions' to their data sharing agreement. While these revisions were touted as reforms that were responsive to the 'distracting' criticisms the program was receiving, these revisions do not go far enough in limiting the sheriff’s access to student records," said the coalition in a statement. "The revisions claim to remove SROs' access to student data, but maintain access for various other agencies, including the sheriff’s office itself. There continues to be a lack of transparency. The sheriff and the district have again excluded the community, including parents from this process. Our coalition also has outstanding concerns about the way that this predictive policing program has and will continue to impact Pasco County families. These are fully addressed in the open letter we sent to the district today in advance of the school board meeting. We urge the district and sheriff to carefully consider and engage with the numerous issues that we have identified in our open letter as they move forward."

The PASCO Coalition said it obtained a copy of the revised agreement through a public records request to the school district, and said the revisions are insufficient to protect the rights of children whose information will still be accessible to the sheriff’s office.

“The PASCO Coalition is extremely concerned about the continued lack of transparency, community-driven solutions, and public input around this program. Neither the district nor the sheriff has addressed what the sheriff is doing with the 20 years of student records in its possession," said the coalition. "Further, there is no process to notify parents and guardians about whether their children’s information was provided to the sheriff, and if so, how it was used. Given the sheriff’s and district’s admissions about the unfettered access that was permitted for decades, these concerns must be addressed."

The coalition said it is also concerns that the program targets children of color, children with disabilities and low-income students for police monitoring and surveillance.

“Furthermore, we have no assurances that the district will permanently prevent similar predictive practices from re-emerging once national attention has abated. This was only a revision to the contract that expires at the end of the 2020-21 school year," the coalition said.

The coalition includes the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida (CAIR-FL), Florida Social Justice in Schools Project, the Intercultural Development Research Association, the National NAACP and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, among other organizations.

It will host a town hall on Saturday, May 8, to discuss the data-sharing program and students’ privacy rights. For more information about the event, the PASCO Coalition or to report if you think you, your child or your family has been targeted, contact the PASCO Coalition at 727-371-6199 or thePASCOcoalition@gmail.com.

See related stories:

• Suit Filed Against Pasco Sheriff For Use Of 'Predictive Policing'
• NAACP Requests Records On Student Data Shared With Pasco Sheriff