A Florida school district scanned the eyes of 750 students without their parents’ knowledge.
The Polk County School District was carrying out a pilot program to track bus riders administered by the private surveillance company Stanley Convergent Security Solutions, The Lakeland Ledger reports. The district sent parents a letter giving them a chance to opt out of the program, but by the time it was sent, the students’ biometric information had already been collected.
The newspaper’s review of email records indicates the school district’s superintendent, John Stewart, was unaware of the program’s existence until it was too late. Ann Marshall, a safe schools specialist assigned to the superintendent’s office, promoted the program to several school principals, telling one the district would be able to track students “with a blink of the eye” using the new technology.
The Polk County School District was carrying out a pilot program to track bus riders administered by the private surveillance company Stanley Convergent Security Solutions, The Lakeland Ledger reports. The district sent parents a letter giving them a chance to opt out of the program, but by the time it was sent, the students’ biometric information had already been collected.
The newspaper’s review of email records indicates the school district’s superintendent, John Stewart, was unaware of the program’s existence until it was too late. Ann Marshall, a safe schools specialist assigned to the superintendent’s office, promoted the program to several school principals, telling one the district would be able to track students “with a blink of the eye” using the new technology.
