Two recent stories by reporters here at 社区黑料 demonstrate the ongoing ripple effects of the Trump administration鈥檚 massive deportation campaign. One deals with money, the other with home. 

My colleague Linda Jacobson detailed how empty desks are adding up, whether it鈥檚 students who are absent from school, families who have been detained or others who鈥檝e left their districts 鈥� or fled the country 鈥� on their own.

States fund districts based on per-pupil enrollment, and in California, that dollar figure comes from daily average attendance. In Minnesota, where immigration enforcement actions听, the state requires districts to drop students from the rolls if they鈥檝e been absent for 15 straight days. Unless an emergency exemption to the rule is granted, one district outside Minneapolis is facing a $1 million hit to its $51 million budget.

鈥淚 remember walking in the hallways going, 鈥楬oly God, where are all the kids?鈥� 鈥� an employee in another Minnesota district told Linda. 鈥淚t was eerie.鈥�

Meanwhile, Jo Napolitano looked at what happens when the parents go missing, specifically after being detained or deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Jo reports that for their children, thousands of whom are U.S. citizens, this abrupt upheaval often means removal from home and听school.

Some can find themselves, brand-new passports in hand, being sent to their parents鈥� birth country, which may be totally unfamiliar, or to live with family or friends 鈥斕齯nless those adults鈥� citizenship status is also precarious and they may be too afraid to take them in. An unlucky number are placed in foster care and some are just left alone.

鈥淲e鈥檝e heard about 15- and 16-year-olds living by themselves for several weeks because their parents were detained and they had no idea where they were,鈥� one advocate said. 鈥淚CE was not checking to make sure they were OK. These are U.S. citizen kids.鈥�
听
Click听听and听听to read the full stories.

In the news

鈥楤lack Arrows鈥� coming to a听school听near you. The sleek, dark-colored drones can dart across fields at 100 mph, punch through windows and bowl over assailants. They aren鈥檛 being deployed to Ukraine or the Middle East, but to neutralize听school听shooters. |听听

The battle over homeschooling regulations in Connecticut has intensified after the stepfather of a homeschooled 12-year-old was charged with sexual assault this month in connection with her death. It was the second death of a homeschooled student in the state in the last five months and followed the 2025 discovery of an adult man who told authorities that his stepmother had held him captive for decades under the guise of homeschooling. |

Suspensions are down markedly in the country鈥檚 largest听school听district, but New York City听school听officials are not sure why. From July to December 2025,听schools听handed out nearly 9,200 suspensions, 8% fewer than in the same period in 2024. The decline included a nearly 22% drop in long-term superintendent suspensions. |听

And you thought human drivers were hard to train.听The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into a driverless car that passed a stopped Texas听school听bus last month, just the latest of many such incidents. As of January, Austin Independent听School听District confirmed that Waymo vehicles had committed 24 violations, prompting the district to ask the company听to cease all operations on听school听day mornings and afternoons. |听

A 2021 opera by a groundbreaking Finnish composer about the most American of tragedies 鈥斕齛听school听shooting 鈥斕齢as come to New York City鈥檚 Metropolitan Opera. Populated by 13 characters,听Innocence听captures multiple aspects of the horrific event and its aftermath 鈥渨ith brutal honesty and abundant compassion,鈥� making it 鈥渁n early contender for one of this century鈥檚 great operas.鈥� |听

The Education Department announced Monday that it was rescinding Obama- and Biden-era agreements with five听school听districts and one college that were meant to advance LGBTQ+ student inclusion. The administration said the agreements 鈥渋mpermissibly expanded the scope of Title IX to enforce discrimination based on 鈥榞ender identity,鈥� not biological sex.鈥� |

ChatGPT reportedly assisted听school听shooter.听The state attorney general is investigating the AI chatbot鈥檚 alleged role in last year鈥檚 Florida State University shooting. The tool developed by OpenAI reportedly told the shooter how to take the safety off of his shotgun three minutes before he opened fire outside and inside FSU鈥檚 busy Student Union, killing two and wounding five. |听

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Finn, a border collie/Australian shepherd mix, contemplates his California existence 鈥� or perhaps just whether it’s time for 社区黑料’s Phyllis Jordan to feed him dinner.

If you鈥檝e been following the Trump administration鈥檚 immigration crackdown, you鈥檝e likely heard of Democrats鈥� calls for greater officer accountability, including banning face masks and mandating body cameras and publicly displayed IDs. For my latest story, I dig into a lesser-known demand: barring federal immigration agents from Head Start, child care and pre-K classrooms.

That was once standard practice but since President Donald Trump rescinded a rule last year shielding so-called sensitive locations from enforcement actions, those who provide education and care to the youngest learners report harrowing encounters with immigration officers. I鈥檓 a staff reporter covering for Mark this week and I spoke to several of those folks in Illinois, which was hit with the administration鈥檚 Operation Midway Blitz last fall.

In the news

The latest in ongoing FBI investigation into L.A. schools鈥� failed AI chatbot deal: A January 2023 meeting invite obtained by 社区黑料 suggests senior staff were consulting with AllHere principals at district headquarters five months before the contract was approved. It also calls into question statements by schools chief Alberto Carvalho that he had no involvement in selecting the company represented by his close friend. | 

• Carvalho issued his first statement after an FBI raid on his home and office. The high-profile school leader, who鈥檚 been placed on paid leave, denied any wrongdoing. | 
  
• Sources say grand jury subpoenas have been issued seeking records from the Miami-Dade County Public Schools鈥檚 inspector general and a fundraising foundation overseen by Carvalho while he was the Miami superintendent. | 

Kids鈥� internet safety bill moves to House vote. Despite Democrats鈥� complaints of a 鈥済iant loophole鈥� for Big Tech, a bill requiring online platforms to implement safeguards for minors has advanced to a full House vote. It would provide 鈥渆asy-to-use parental tools鈥� and limit addictive design features.听|听

A former Lakewood, Colorado, school security supervisor will serve 18 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old student on and off school grounds over the course of two years. 鈥淗is job was to ensure the safety of students,鈥� said a deputy district attorney. 鈥淚nstead 鈥� [he] manipulated a sixteen-year-old into sexual acts.鈥� | 

As federal civil rights complaints languish, parents of disabled students look to states. Colorado lawmakers unanimously approved a bill that would expand the state education department’s ability to hear complaints tied to students鈥� disability accommodations. They鈥檙e part of a growing number of legislators nationwide who want their states to step in amid federal staffing cuts and mounting unresolved civil rights cases. | 

• Go deeper: For Decades, the Feds Were the Last, Best Hope for Special Ed Kids. What Happens Now?听|听

Virginia has passed a bill barring schools from teaching Jan. 6 as a 鈥減eaceful protest.鈥� Instead, it would be presented as 鈥渁n unprecedented, violent attack on U.S. democratic institutions, infrastructure, and representatives for the purpose of overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.鈥�  | 

Private school choice but not for everyone. Texas has excluded about two dozen Islamic schools from its new $1 billion voucher program for allegedly being linked to terrorist groups, a decision that has led to a lawsuit and claims of anti-Muslim discrimination.| 

A $7 million tech effort meant to make Hawai驶i schools safer by equipping teachers and principals with panic buttons and mobile apps never got off the ground. Two years after launching, only one school in the state has panic buttons 鈥� and it鈥檚 not using them.| 

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Jebby, my handsome cockapoo, is very excited to hang up his jacket 鈥� and his booties 鈥� and sniff the spring air. 

That afternoon, agents appeared in front of at least two nearby elementary schools, reportedly waiting for parents to pick up their children, 鈥渁nd at one point they were looking into kindergarten classroom windows and just scaring the living daylights out of the children,鈥� said the director, who asked not to be identified to protect the children she serves. 鈥淭hey have guns, they have rifles. They look scary.鈥�

Helicopters also flew overhead at a circling as kids paraded through the streets in their costumes, according to stories collected from Illinois Head Start families on how the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in their state last fall affected them.

Earlier on the 31st, the Illinois director said she had gotten word through phone calls and Signal channels that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had flooded the area, she told 社区黑料. A family on their way to enroll their young daughter in an early learning center that shares space with her Head Start program was stopped a block or so away at a major intersection. The father was detained in front of his wife and child, she said.

A dozen Head Start associations representing more than 100,000 children across the country, including the one in Illinois, sent a letter to Congress Tuesday demanding that immigration agents be barred from entering Head Start, child care and pre-K classrooms and premises, including parking lots. 

For nearly three decades, that was a largely accepted practice: Immigration enforcement was prohibited in and around schools, hospitals, places of worship and other so-called sensitive locations. 

One of the first things President Donald Trump did at the start of his second term in January 2025 was . Reinstating those constraints is now one of at least meant to rein in ICE enforcement that congressional Democrats say they need in order to support long-term Department of Homeland Security funding and end the partial government shutdown that is

Their conditions were outlined in a signed by the House and Senate Democratic minority leaders, U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer, and include more widely publicized rules, such as prohibiting agents from covering their faces with masks and mandating visible displays of identification. 

This week鈥檚 entreaty from the Head Start associations echoes those congressional demands. The early learning groups also urged federal lawmakers to ban DHS agents from interfering with school drop-off or pickup at their programs, including at bus stops, citing another incident in Chicago where a father was his two young kids to school. They were left in the back of the car alone.

鈥淎cross the country, children are being harmed by immigration enforcement actions,鈥� the letter reads. 鈥淗ead Start programs report that children are experiencing changes in behavior and exhibiting signs of fear and anxiety. Families are missing work, keeping their children home, and facing housing and food insecurity.鈥�

Last Thursday, Senate Democrats blocked a spending bill , extending the shutdown and demonstrating they remained firm in their demands.

That same day marked a major change in the department鈥檚 increasingly unpopular leadership, with Trump Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. The move followed questions about her handling of department spending as well as mounting criticism around her response to the deadly ICE shootings of two American citizens at protests in Minneapolis earlier this year. 

Trump announced his plan to nominate Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin as her replacement, though his new pick does not seem to signal any planned shift in enforcing the president鈥檚 mass deportation agenda. 

鈥楽afer but not safe鈥�

Policy limiting immigration enforcement near schools, hospitals and churches was formally introduced in the early days of the Clinton administration through a

In the decades since, similar policies have been modified, clarified or codified by presidents from both parties. In 2011, near the end of President Barack Obama鈥檚 first term, his administration formally expanded the policy, which was then further clarified under President Joe Biden in 2021.

Trump鈥檚 January directive marked a significant departure from these largely bipartisan, long-standing rules, including during his own first term, when DHS issued a saying they would continue to follow sensitive location protocol. 

According to a DHS the policy Trump put forth in his second term was instituted to prevent 鈥渃riminal aliens 鈥� including murders [sic] and rapists鈥� from being 鈥渁ble to hide in America鈥檚 schools and churches to avoid arrest.鈥� Some more stringent guardrails have since been reinstated for places of worship, but not for schools or early learning centers.

Providers in Illinois 鈥� and across the country 鈥� argue this scenario only serves to traumatize children and make their educational spaces less safe.

鈥淲e鈥檝e had kids that aren鈥檛 coming anymore because they鈥檙e too afraid to come to school,鈥� said Kelly Neidel, the executive director of a different Head Start agency in Illinois, which also provides wraparound services to families. 鈥淥ur food pantry [has] declined. So these people are making a choice 鈥� to eat or potentially get picked up.鈥�

In April 2025, a number of organizations filed a lawsuit in Oregon, challenging Trump鈥檚 new edict and in September, they were joined by , including staff and parents from a preschool.

In February, the country’s two largest teachers unions filed an , citing an incident in Oregon in which agents smashed in the car window of a father dropping his child off at a day care, as well as students and teachers at Minneapolis鈥檚 Roosevelt High School being assaulted with tear gas in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Renee Good.

While advocates and providers are hopeful that a forthcoming DHS bill will include a reinstatement of sensitive location protections, some argue it wouldn鈥檛 go far enough. 

The Illinois Head Start director, who went out patrolling on Halloween to protect families and kids, said now that she鈥檚 seen what federal immigration agents are capable of, it would make her feel 鈥渟afer but not safe.鈥�

鈥淚t might deter them from coming, but would it deter all of them?鈥� she asked. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know. I honestly cannot answer that question. I cannot answer confidently that they would not enter even if that order was in place.鈥�

Wendy Cervantes, a director at The Center for Law and Social Policy, is helping to lead the charge on federal legislation, which would codify sensitive location policies into law, significantly strengthening their power.

, introduced in the House in February 2025, would prohibit immigration enforcement actions within 1,000 feet of such places, except in certain extreme circumstances. If an officer violated these rules, any resulting information wouldn鈥檛 be admissible in court and the targeted person could move to terminate any resulting removal proceedings. 

Since early January, the bill has gained 33 co-sponsors in the House and four in the Senate, meaning over two-thirds of the Democratic caucus is officially in support. It has also been endorsed by over across the country. No Republicans have signed on.听

Some states, including Illinois, have passed their own bills over the past year, but because they have to align with federal policy, they鈥檙e largely aimed at providing guidance and setting protocols for how local entities should address ICE. 

鈥淚t would make a huge difference to have this done at the federal level,鈥� Cervantes said.

鈥楢 horrendous day鈥�

The Illinois director of programs, who funds centers across a metropolitan area in the state, said that from day one of the second Trump administration she felt a significant shift in the federal approach to early childhood learning. In addition to increased ICE enforcement, her Head Start classrooms 鈥� along with thousands of others across the nation 鈥� experienced delays in funding that threatened to shutter them. 

Once their grant came through, she and her colleagues had to wade through the realities of operating under the administration鈥檚 diversity, equity and inclusion ban, which threatened the core of their work, she said.

Things escalated in September after a father of two, was shot and killed during a highly publicized ICE traffic stop in nearby Franklin Park, Illinois. He had just dropped off one of his children at a Head Start classroom.

鈥淲e knew they would eventually be coming our way,鈥� she said, and early learning centers across the region began to prepare. 

That reality hit the morning of Oct. 31 鈥� 鈥渁 horrendous day鈥� she said, which filled her with fear and made her cry tears of anger. 

And the fear has not subsided, she said, for the families she serves, the staff she employs or for herself. As the child of immigrants and a woman of color, she鈥檚 started carrying her passport.

Mirroring steps taken by other early childhood providers in Illinois, images of fake and real warrants have now been posted at the front doors of her centers so staff can differentiate, along with a script of what to say should an ICE agent approach. Head Start Parent Council meetings have moved to Zoom so parents who fear leaving their homes can still remain involved, and centers have organized food drop-offs. 

Programs have installed incident commanders and some have hired security details. Others have their own staff standing guard, but directors fear for their safety too, since many are immigrants themselves.

In November, ICE agents chased one day care worker into the center where she worked in Chicago鈥檚 North Side neighborhood. She was in front of children, and subsequently arrested. She was a week later after a federal judge ruled her arrest was illegal because she wasn’t given a preliminary bond hearing.

Volunteer rapid response teams have formed across Illinois to alert providers of nearby ICE activity. In one incident, they were called to stand guard during a field trip to a children鈥檚 museum where ICE was 鈥渉ot and heavy,鈥� according to Lauri Morrison-Frichtl, the executive director of the Illinois Head Start Association, which advocates for all state providers.

鈥淟ast fall was terrible,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 cried every day.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥淥ur ask is keep ICE out of Head Start [and] early Head Start classrooms, facilities, our playgrounds, our parking lots and not interfere in our work or our day-to-day,鈥� she added. 鈥淔amilies need safe spaces to send children 鈥� making our facilities safe when ICE is surrounding them is really hard.鈥�

Milo went missing. 

Yet it wasn鈥檛 the lost puppy that gave people the jitters 鈥� it was the promise behind the story: that a communitywide web of home security systems could transform a neighborhood into a 鈥淪earch Party.鈥�

The Super Bowl commercial set off public backlash against two leading surveillance companies: Amazon, which owns Ring doorbell cameras, and Flock Safety, which makes license plate reader cameras. Within days, the e-commerce giant announced it was ditching a planned partnership with Atlanta-based Flock.

Privacy advocates said the breakup represented a rare, high-profile retreat from the expansion of surveillance-driven policing 鈥� and that school leaders should take note.

鈥淭he fact that Amazon is reconsidering their relationship with Flock should be a very large and glaring sign that schools should also perhaps reconsider that relationship,鈥� said Kristin Woelfel, policy counsel for equity in civic technology at the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology.

In an investigation last week, 社区黑料 revealed that police nationwide routinely tapped into school district Flock cameras to assist President Donald Trump鈥檚 mass immigration crackdown, which has also led to public outcry and protest over the U.S. Department of Homeland Security鈥檚 unprecedented surveillance tactics.

You can also listen to me talk about my latest reporting on the and on on San Francisco’s KALW public radio.

In the news

The latest in Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown: A Georgia elementary school teacher was killed this week while driving to work when a man being chased by federal immigration agents rammed into her vehicle. | 

• Conservative advocacy group Defending Education has built a database of some 700 school districts nationally that have adopted policies restricting federal immigration agents’ access to campuses. | 

• U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, who repeatedly denied that federal agents were targeting schools, is stepping down. | 

Instagram and other Meta-owned social media apps have navigated youth safety 鈥渋n a reasonable way,鈥� company CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified Wednesday in a courtroom filled with parents who have accused the company and other tech giants of hooking their children on the platforms and decimating their mental health. | 

鈥榃orried that I was going to die鈥�: Georgia high schoolers opened up this week about the horrors of getting shot during the 2024 Apalachee High School shooting that led to the deaths of two teachers and two students. Students鈥� testimonies came during a criminal trial accusing the alleged shooter鈥檚 father of recklessness and failure to prevent the tragedy. | 

Should schools call child protective services on students who are chronically absent? Debate has ensued. | 

• A Georgia father has been arrested on allegations that each of his two sons has missed nearly 400 days of school. One is an elementary school student, while the other is in middle school. | 

In a significant departure from past years, the Education Department鈥檚 civil rights division didn鈥檛 close any sexual harassment and assault cases involving K-12 schools in 2025, after the Trump administration slashed the agency and purged its caseload. | 

ICYMI @The74

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社区黑料 is proud to announce we鈥檝e hired Simon and Max, who joined reporter Lauren Wagner a few weeks ago at our growing Nebraska bureau.

Milo went missing. 

Yet it wasn鈥檛 the lost puppy that gave people the jitters 鈥� it was the promise behind the story: That a communitywide web of home security systems could transform a neighborhood into a 鈥淪earch Party.鈥�

The Super Bowl commercial against two leading surveillance companies, Amazon, which owns Ring doorbell cameras, and Flock Safety, which makes license plate reader cameras. Within days, the e-commerce giant announced it was ditching a planned partnership with Atlanta-based Flock.

Privacy advocates said the breakup represented a rare, high-profile retreat from the expansion of surveillance-driven policing 鈥� and that school leaders should take note.

鈥淭he fact that Amazon is reconsidering their relationship with Flock should be a very large and glaring sign that schools should also perhaps reconsider that relationship,鈥� said Kristin Woelfel, policy counsel for equity in civic technology at the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology. 

In an investigation last week, 社区黑料 revealed that police nationwide routinely tapped into school district Flock cameras to assist President Donald Trump鈥檚 mass immigration crackdown, which has also led to public outcry and protest over the U.S. Department of Homeland Security鈥檚

Ring鈥檚 planned integration with Flock Safety would have allowed homeowners to share their camera feeds with the police. The company said the collaboration was never launched but it still plans to roll out 鈥淪earch Party鈥� to homeowners, first for 鈥渇inding dogs鈥�

In statements, the two companies described the , with Ring saying it

Some 100 school districts across the country have contracted with Flock, according to government procurement records. Their cameras are designed to capture license plate numbers, timestamps and other identifying details, which are uploaded to a cloud server. Flock customers, including schools, can decide whether to share their information with other police agencies in the company鈥檚 national network. 

Woelfel鈥檚 warning lands amid of automated license plate readers and their use by federal immigration agents to track down targets. Flock audit logs obtained by 社区黑料 and interviews reveal local police departments nationwide are searching school district-run surveillance networks to aid the DHS in immigration enforcement cases. 

The logs were from Texas school districts that contract with Flock and showed that law enforcement agencies far beyond their borders 鈥� including in Florida, Georgia, Indiana and Tennessee 鈥� routinely conducted searches on the districts’ campus feeds, tagging reasons such as 鈥淚mmigration (criminal)鈥� and 鈥淚mmigration (civil/administrative).鈥� Multiple law enforcement officials acknowledged the searches were done at the request of federal immigration agents, with one saying the local assist was given without hesitation. 

Ring spokesperson Emma Daniels said the company doesn鈥檛 contract with school districts directly. The company鈥檚 鈥渢erminated integration with Flock鈥� is specific to a tool that allows local police 鈥渢o request video footage from Ring users in a specific area during a defined time period鈥� to help in investigations related to 鈥渁 car theft, a burglary or other local safety concerns.鈥�

Flock spokesperson Holly Beilin said her company was not involved in the 鈥淪earch Party鈥� feature promoted in the Super Bowl ad and its planned Ring collaboration 鈥渉ad nothing to do with any of our school customers.鈥� Those customers rely on the automated license plate readers to navigate parent custody logistics and in parking lots where 鈥渕ost incidents of violence at schools take place.鈥� In December, district s to investigate a rash of car break-ins in school parking lots.

Immigration and Customs enforcement agents have during school pick-up and drop-off to target immigrant families. 

Beilin said she didn鈥檛 know how frequently school-owned Flock networks were being queried on behalf of ICE, but that the company had rolled out that allows customers to disable immigration-related searches on their devices. 

鈥淚f school district police, or, frankly any police, decides that that is against their policy, they can turn that search filter on,鈥� Beilin told 社区黑料. 鈥淪o any of those searches would be filtered out.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

There is no evidence from 社区黑料鈥檚 analysis that the Texas school districts use the devices for their own immigration-related investigations, but the audit logs raise questions about how broadly school safety data are being fed into the far-reaching surveillance tool. 

That school Flock cameras are being accessed by out-of-state police officers for immigration enforcement is 鈥渁 really serious privacy issue for children and families鈥� Woelfel said. 

鈥淵ou have to think about what effect it鈥檚 ultimately going to have on the community,鈥� she continued. 鈥淓ven in places without Flock cameras, people are afraid to drop their kids off at school,鈥� because of heightened immigration enforcement and the Trump administration’s policy change that lifted longstanding restrictions against immigration enforcement in or around schools and other 鈥渟ensitive locations.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥楥an鈥檛 believe we have that here鈥�

For 16-year-old Zachary Schwartz, a high schooler from San Francisco, backlash to the Ring ad validated something he鈥檚 been telling people for months: Flock鈥檚 presence in communities nationwide has grown far too vast and most Americans don鈥檛 even realize it. 

鈥淵ou hear about tracking systems in other countries, like China, which are more authoritarian,鈥� Schwartz said. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 like, 鈥榃hoa, I can鈥檛 believe we have that here.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Schwartz said he fell down the Flock rabbit hole after watching , which sent him digging into its widespread use in his own city. He learned the San Francisco Police Department shared its feeds with law enforcement officers nationwide, including for immigration enforcement, in apparent . Activists have also elevated concerns about weak cybersecurity safeguards and faulty findings that

Schwartz built a website, , to drive attention to Flock鈥檚 presence. He also circulated posters across San Francisco urging residents to learn about the cameras constantly watching them.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e driving on a major roadway, you鈥檙e being tracked in the city,鈥� Schwartz said. 鈥淚t would be pretty hard to avoid it while going to school if you鈥檙e going by car or by a bus.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

社区黑料 reached out to 30 districts to learn more about how they use Flock and whether they鈥檝e assessed how their data are shared. Few responded and almost all declined to comment. Several, including Indiana鈥檚 Center Grove Community School Corporation, said they ended their contracts with Flock without providing details about why. 

One district that did respond was Minnetonka Public Schools, 12 miles southwest of Minneapolis, where the Trump administration鈥檚 mass deployment of immigration agents last month resulted in the fatal shootings of two citizens, closed Minneapolis Public Schools for two days and forced multiple districts in the Twin Cities area to offer remote learning for students too afraid to come to school.

District spokesperson JacQueline Getty said Minnetonka school officials use Flock license plate readers primarily to ensure people who have been banned from campus don鈥檛 trespass on school property. She didn鈥檛 elaborate on whether district Flock data are shared directly with outside law enforcement agencies or if their data have been leveraged to assist federal immigration agents. 

鈥淲e cooperate with our local law enforcement department when there is a need to do so, such as if our reader pings a stolen vehicle entering our lot,鈥� Getty said in an email. 鈥淥ur primary goal is campus safety, and the district has benefited from identifying people who should not be on district property.鈥�

At Indiana University in Bloomington, in a January protest criticizing the city鈥檚 use of Flock license plate readers. In at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the campus it 鈥渦ses a limited number鈥� of Flock cameras for campus safety but has 鈥渆nabled specific settings within our system to prevent searches related to immigration enforcement.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥楾he future that we really want?鈥�

The controversy comes on the heels of efforts at Flock to security. Security vendor Raptor Technologies announced last year an initiative to implement Flock cameras into a product designed to enhance safety during afternoon dismissal. 

Raptor Technologies, which counts roughly 40% of U.S. school districts as its customers, offers software that screens school visitors.

鈥淏y working with both schools and local law enforcement, Flock helps create safe corridors for student travel 鈥� whether that鈥檚 monitoring activity along walking routes, at bus stops or on nearby roads,鈥� Flock said in . 

In 2024, Raptor听suffered a cybersecurity lapse that exposed millions of sensitive records 鈥斕齣ncluding districts鈥� active-shooter plans and students鈥� medical records 鈥斕齮o the internet.

“Raptor Technologies does not share, sell or disclose any data collected on our platform with third parties or government agencies,” a company spokesperson said in a statement after this article was published.

“We do not provide access to our systems or customer records other than as directed by customers or pursuant to a valid government order,” according to the statement. Although Raptor tools integrate with other companies’ security offerings, the spokesperson said it is up to districts to “determine what data, if any, is shared, the scope of what is shared and whether an integration is enabled.”

Schwartz, the San Francisco high schooler, said students learn about mass surveillance at school by reading books like George Orwell鈥檚 classic 1984. Yet when government overreach 鈥渉appens right in front of us,鈥� he said, 鈥渕any people don鈥檛 see it.鈥�

In a place where Bay Area technology companies routinely roll out their latest wares, people are starting to wake up, he said. 

鈥淚t also means that we see the future before it happens sometimes,鈥� Schwartz said, 鈥渁nd we can decide 鈥極h, is this the future that we really want?鈥欌��

Clarification: Flock鈥檚 licensed plate reader cameras were not part of the company鈥檚 since-cancelled integration with Ring. The subhead on this story has been updated to make that distinction clearer.

When the Trump administration decimated the Education Department鈥檚 civil rights office last year, thousands of students waiting for relief from alleged racial and sexual discrimination in schools were left to languish. 

It turns out the move to sideline half of the Office for Civil Rights staff , according to a new report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. Nearly a year later, the Education Department still can鈥檛 say whether it saved a dime. 

GAO estimates the decision to place civil rights staffers on paid administrative leave, while simultaneously shuttering most of its regional offices, cost upwards of $38 million for the salaries and benefits of staffers who were kept home. 

鈥淥ther costs,鈥� the government watchdog noted, 鈥渁re unknown.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Without a full accounting of costs and savings, the watchdog concluded, the the shakeup improved efficiency, saved money or better served students 鈥� the very reasons used to justify the cuts in the first place. 

In the news

The latest in Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown: Minnesota school districts and the state鈥檚 teachers union filed a lawsuit demanding reinstatement of a longstanding policy against immigration enforcement activities near schools and other 鈥渟ensitive locations.鈥� | 

• A Minnesota 11-year-old and her mother will be reunited with their family after being held for nearly a month in a Texas detention center after getting picked up by immigration agents on their way to school. | 
  
• The horrifying truth behind the immigration arrest of 5-year-old Liam Ramos: It wasn鈥檛 an accident. | 
  
  • The Columbia Heights school district where Liam is enrolled closed for a day this week after officials received a 鈥渞acially and politically motivated鈥� bomb threat. | 
    
• 鈥楴one of this is OK鈥�: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz demanded in a letter that the federal government disclose how many of the state鈥檚 children have been detained as part of the immigration enforcement surge 鈥� and pleaded for agents to stay away from schools and bus stops. | 
  
• Cities could be compelled to cooperate with federal immigration officials in order to access federal funds for investigations into internet crimes against children, a lawsuit alleges. | 

Big Tech in the spotlight: As TikTok and Snap settle lawsuits centered on the damaging effects of social media on children, Meta and YouTube are gearing up for closely watched trials. The tech companies face allegations the apps were designed to keep kids hooked despite known harms to their well-being. | 

• Amazon reported hundreds of thousands of photos of child sexual abuse in its artificial intelligence training data 鈥� but the company鈥檚 refusal to say where it came from could hinder police efforts to track down perpetrators. |  
  
• As Democrat- and Republican-led states pass rules designed to protect children from the potential harms of AI chatbots like ChatGPT, an executive order by President Donald Trump gives the attorney general authority to sue states with consumer protection laws that stand in the way of the country鈥檚 鈥済lobal AI dominance.鈥� | 
  
• The head of the Federal Trade Commission came out as a strong proponent of contentious online age-verification rules, arguing 鈥渋t offers a way to unleash American innovation without compromising the health and well-being of America’s most important resource: its children.鈥� | 

A North Carolina woman faces criminal charges after she allegedly kicked a pregnant school resource officer in the stomach while refusing to leave her child鈥檚 elementary school. | 

鈥業t鈥檚 evil鈥�: The National Institutes of Health failed to protect genetic data of more than 20,000 U.S. children from misuse by a fringe group of researchers who used the records to claim intellectual superiority of white people over other races. | 

Two Florida teenagers accused of plotting to kill a classmate will be charged as adults with attempted premeditated murder. | 

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社区黑料鈥檚 Eamonn Fitzmaurice and his son Ellis  to offer a few treats and scratches. 鈥淚鈥檓 a dog person,鈥� Eamonn tells me, 鈥渂ut the cats were cute.鈥�

It took  to stop the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooter after he killed 19 children and two teachers in 2022. 

Among the first officers to respond to what would become one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history was former campus cop Adrian Gonzalez. On Wednesday, after an emotional three-week trial, a jury found Gonzalez  Prosecutors had alleged the 52-year-old endangered children鈥檚 lives and abandoned his training when he failed to stop the 18-year-old gunman before entering Robb Elementary School and opening fire.

Big picture: It鈥檚 the second time ever that a school-based officer has faced criminal charges for their  as shots rang out inside a school. It鈥檚 also the second time the officer has walked free. 

In 2023, former school-based police officer  after he took cover outside a Parkland, Florida, high school as a gunman killed 17 people in a 2018 mass shooting.

Both cases raise the same question: Once a gunman enters a school and starts shooting indiscriminately at innocent people, 

Three for three? Gonzalez鈥檚 acquittal doesn鈥檛 mark the end of the criminal fallout from what the Justice Department determined were  Pete Arredondo, the school district鈥檚 former police chief, will stand trial on 10 child endangerment charges. A trial date for that case hasn鈥檛 yet been set.

In the news

Updates to Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown: 

• As thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents descend on Minnesota, school communities have been pushed into chaos and fear, my Twin Cities-based colleague Beth Hawkins reports. | 
  
• The Columbia Heights school district announced that federal agents have detained four of its students over the last two weeks 鈥� including a 5-year-old boy who was used as 鈥渂ait鈥� as officers pursued his family members. The Department of Homeland Security said the elementary schooler had been 鈥渁bandoned鈥� by his father during a traffic stop. | , 
  
• The former Des Moines, Iowa, superintendent, who was arrested by federal immigration agents in September, has pleaded guilty to felony charges connected to lying about his citizenship status on school district employment forms and for possessing a gun while in the country illegally. | 
  
• Maine parents have stopped sending their kids to school as the state becomes the next immigration enforcement battleground. | 
  
• Immigrant-rights advocates have called for a Texas judge to recuse herself from a case involving an unaccompanied minor, alleging she demonstrated cruelty and bias including grilling immigrant children about whether they had 鈥渁bandoned鈥� their families in their birth countries. | 
  
• Worms and mold in the food: As the Trump administration restores the practice of family detentions, children in ICE custody are being exposed to unsanitary conditions and limited access to clean drinking water. | 

As Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta prepares for a trial over allegations it failed to protect children from sexual exploitation, the company has asked a judge to exclude from court proceedings references to research into social media鈥檚 effects on youth mental health.| 

Employees of Elon Musk鈥檚 Department of Government Efficiency inappropriately handled sensitive Social Security data, the Justice Department acknowledged in a court filing. The president of the American Federation of Teachers, which sued to halt DOGE鈥檚 access to such confidential information, said the revelation 鈥渃onfirms our worst fears鈥� that the quasi-agency鈥檚 data practices jeopardized 鈥淎merican鈥檚 personal and financial security.鈥� | 

Poor reception: Turns out, kids aren鈥檛 so hip to the idea of school cell phone bans. Fifty-one percent of teens said students should be allowed to use their devices during class. A resounding 73% oppose cell phone bans throughout the entire school day. | 

School districts across Michigan have rejected new school safety and mental health money from the state over objections to a new requirement that they waive legal privilege and submit to state investigations after mass school shootings. Some school leaders have argued the requirement creates legal uncertainties that outweigh the financial support. | 

As the Prince George鈥檚 County, Maryland, school district faces a 鈥渃risis budget鈥� and braces for $150 million in cuts, officials plan to spend $6 million on artificial intelligence-enabled security technology, including weapons detection systems and license plate readers. | 

ICYMI @The74

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School (in)Security features all the news that鈥檚 fit to 

The Federal Trade Commission announced this month plans to  over a massive 2021 data breach. The move added to a long list of government actions against the firm since hackers broke into its systems and made off with the sensitive information of more than 10 million students.

Three state attorneys general have also now imposed fines and security mandates on the company following allegations it misled customers about its cybersecurity safeguards and waited nearly two years to notify some school districts of the widespread data breach.

The in their efforts to hold Illuminate accountable are parents and students.

Their pursuit hit a wall in September when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a federal lawsuit filed by the breach victims. The court, ruling on a case filed in California, found that the theft of their personal data 鈥� including grades, special education information and medical records 鈥� didn鈥檛 constitute a concrete harm.

In the news

The latest in President Donald Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown: In many cities across the country, from New Orleans to Minneapolis, resisting federal immigration enforcement means keeping kids in school. | 

• Trump鈥檚 mass deportation effort has had a particularly damaging effect on the child care industry, which is heavily reliant on immigrant preschool teachers 鈥� most of them working in the U.S. legally 鈥� who have found themselves 鈥渨racked by anxiety over possible encounters with ICE.鈥� | 
  
• 鈥楥ulture of fear鈥�: Immigrant students across the country have increasingly found themselves targets of bullying since the beginning of Trump鈥檚 second term, according to a new survey of high school principals. | 

A Kansas middle school will no longer assign Chromebooks to each student: Computers have had 鈥渁 wonderful place in education,鈥� the school鈥檚 principal said. But schools have 鈥渟imply immersed students too much in technology.鈥� | 

A Florida middle school went into lockdown after an automated threat detection system was triggered by a clarinet. A student was walking in the hallway 鈥渉olding a musical instrument as if it were a weapon.鈥� |

鈥楪ot what he deserved鈥�: A California teacher has filed a federal First Amendment lawsuit against her school after she was suspended for a Facebook post calling right-wing political activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk a 鈥減ropaganda-spewing racist misogynist鈥� a day after he was murdered. | 

• In Florida, two teachers have filed separate First Amendment lawsuits after they were punished for social media posts critical of Kirk after his death. | 
  
• Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott announced a partnership with Turning Point USA to create local chapters of the group at every high school campus in the state, vowing “meaningful disciplinary action鈥� against any educators who stand in the way. | 
  
• Kirk鈥檚 wife, Erika Kirk, will field questions from 鈥測oung evangelicals, prominent religious leaders and figures across the political spectrum鈥� during a live town hall Saturday on CBS News moderated by its new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss. | 
  
• ICYMI: The Trump administration鈥檚 First Amendment crackdown in the wake of the activist鈥檚 violent death has left student free speech on even shakier ground. | 

Following a shakeup in its ranks by vaccine skeptic and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee voted to overturn a decades-long recommendation that newborn babies be immunized for hepatitis B 鈥� a policy credited with decimating the highly contagious virus in infants. | 

• A measles outbreak in South Carolina schools is accelerating, with some unvaccinated students in a second 21-day quarantine since the beginning of the academic year. |   

A photo that circulated online depicted California high school students lying in the shape of a swastika on the grass of a football field. Chaos ensued. | 

鈥業t feels nasty. It’s gross.鈥�: Controversy has come to a head at a California high school after an adult film producer rented out the campus gym for a raunchy livestream. 鈥淭he first thing I see is a full-grown adult, an adult man wearing a baby costume and being fed milk from a baby bottle,鈥� one student observer noted. | 

Two Texas teenagers allegedly conspired to carry out a school shooting at their high school but the plot was thwarted after classmates reported text messages with their plans to school police. 鈥淒on鈥檛 come to school on Monday,鈥� one of the messages warned. | 

ICYMI @The74

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Three state attorneys general have also now imposed penalties and security mandates on the company following allegations it misled customers about its cybersecurity safeguards and waited nearly two years to notify some school districts of the widespread data breach. 

The ones that haven鈥檛 made progress in their efforts to hold Illuminate accountable are parents and students. Their pursuit hit a wall in September when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a federal lawsuit filed by the breach victims. The court, ruling on a case filed in California, found that the theft of their personal data 鈥� including grades, special education information and medical records 鈥� didn鈥檛 constitute a concrete harm.

The federal appeals court of a proposed class-action lawsuit filed by families whose children鈥檚 information was compromised. The court concluded the plaintiffs lacked standing because they did not demonstrate actual damage from the breach or an 鈥渋mminent and substantial鈥� risk of future identity theft. In the years since the cyberattack was carried out, the court concluded, there was no evidence that the records, which did not include Social Security numbers, had been misused to commit identity theft. 

鈥淚t has been more than three years since the breach,鈥� the court wrote, 鈥渁nd no fraud has occurred, nor is the kind of information at issue the kind that this court normally considers sufficient to find a credible threat of identity theft.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Under announced by the FTC this month, Illuminate will be required to create a 鈥渃omprehensive information security program,鈥� delete any student data it is no longer using and notify the commission of any future data breaches. Regulators allege a third-party company hired by Illuminate to assess its cybersecurity safeguards raised red flags but Illuminate failed to heed those warnings a year before it was hacked using the compromised credentials of a former employee.

鈥淚lluminate pledged to secure and protect personal information about children and failed to do so,鈥� Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC鈥檚 Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a media release this month. The FTC action, Mufarrige continued, should serve as a warning to other companies that the commission 鈥渨ill hold them accountable if they fail to keep their privacy promises to consumers, particularly when it involves children鈥檚 medical diagnoses and other personal data.鈥�

After the data breach, which affected the country鈥檚 two largest school districts in New York City and Los Angeles among others, Illuminate was by another education technology company, in 2022. Since then, a Renaissance spokesperson said in a statement to 社区黑料 this week, Illuminate products have been incorporated into its 鈥渃ybersecurity and data protection program.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥渞obust security protocols and controls used to safeguard the integrity and confidentiality of the data entrusted to us by schools, educators and families,鈥� the spokesperson said.

The FTC action comes on the heels of last month, when state attorneys general in California, Connecticut and New York secured a combined $5.1 million in penalties from Illuminate, along with cybersecurity requirements that resemble the FTC鈥檚 demands. State investigators similarly alleged sweeping security flaws at the company, including the failure to monitor suspicious activity and deactivate the inactive user accounts of former employees. 

A California Department of Justice that Illuminate made 鈥渇alse and misleading statements鈥� about its cybersecurity safeguards in its privacy policy and 鈥渄eceptively advertised鈥� to school districts that it was a signatory of the nonprofit Future of Privacy Forum鈥檚 now-defunct 鈥淪tudent Privacy Pledge.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The voluntary pledge, , sought to hold education technology companies accountable for maintaining 鈥渁 comprehensive security program鈥� to protect students鈥� personal information and to prevent the sale of student records for targeted advertising. 

Illuminate became the first ed tech company to get booted from the pledge after reporting by 社区黑料 called into question its utility in holding tech firms accountable for failing to meet its provisions. 

The multistate Connecticut regulators reached a settlement under its state student data privacy law 鈥� which was enacted nearly a decade ago. 

鈥淭echnology is everywhere in schools today, and Connecticut鈥檚 Student Data Privacy Law requires strict security to protect children鈥檚 information,鈥� Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement. The settlement 鈥渉olds Illuminate accountable and sends a strong message to education technology companies that they must take privacy obligations seriously.鈥�

It was in physical education class when Laila Gutierrez  Vaping.

Like students across the country, Gutierrez got dragged between vape manufacturers, who used celebrity marketing and fruity flavors to hook kids on e-cigarettes, and educators, who鈥檝e turned to surveillance tools and discipline to crack down on the youngest users. Gutierrez was suspended for a week after she was nabbed vaping in a crowded school bathroom during her lunch hour. 

In my latest investigative deep dive, , I reveal how school districts across the country have spent millions to install vape-detecting sensors in school bathrooms 鈥� once considered a digital surveillance no-go. The devices prioritize punishment to combat student nicotine addiction.

My analysis of public records obtained from Minneapolis Public Schools reveals the sensors inundated administrators with alerts 鈥� about one per minute during a typical school day, on average. Their presence brought a spike in school discipline, records show, with and younger middle school students facing the harshest consequences. 

The sheer volume of alerts, more than  across four schools, raises questions about whether they鈥檙e an effective way to get kids to give up their vape pens. And some students voiced privacy concerns about the sensors, the most high tech of which can now reportedly detect keywords, how many young people are in the bathroom at one time and for how long. 

鈥淪urveillance is only a diagnosis,鈥� Texas student activist Cameron Samuels told me. 鈥淚t only recognizes symptoms of a failed system.鈥�&苍产蝉辫; 

In the news

Charlotte, North Carolina, school officials reported more than 30,000 students absent on Monday, two days after federal immigration agents arrested 130 people there in their latest sweep. That more recent data point underscores the 81,000 school days missed by more than 100,000 students in California鈥檚 Central Valley after immigration raids earlier this year, according to a newly peer reviewed Stanford University study. | 

• Los Angeles schools have lost thousands of immigrant students 鈥� from 157,619 in the 2018-19 school year to just 62,000 this year 鈥� because of the city鈥檚 rising prices and falling birth rates. Now, that trend has intensified after the 鈥渃hilling effect鈥� of recent federal immigration raids, district officials said. | 

• Student enrollment is dropping in school districts across the country amid President Donald Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown. In Miami, for example, the number of new immigrant students has decreased by more than 10,000 compared to last year. | 

Ten Commandments: Siding with the families of students who argued they infringed on their religious freedom, a federal judge on Tuesday ordered some Texas public school districts to remove Ten Commandment displays from their classroom walls by next month. | 

• 28 Bills, Ten Commandments and 1 Source: A Christian Right 鈥楤ill Mill鈥�. | 

Online gaming platform Roblox announced it will block children from interacting with teens and adults in the wake of lawsuits alleging the platform has been used by predators to groom young people. | 

Furry and freaky: 鈥淜umma,鈥� a Chinese-made teddy bear with artificial intelligence capabilities and marketed toward children, is being pulled from shelves after researchers found it could teach its users how to light matches and about sexual kinks. | 

A teenage girl from New York reported to a police officer at school that her adoptive father had been raping her at home for years. The officer, who didn鈥檛 believe her, bungled the case 鈥� and she was abused again. | 

鈥楤razen cruelty鈥�: A federal judge has ordered the release of a 16-year-old Bronx high schooler who has spent nearly a month in federal immigration custody despite having a protective status reserved for immigrant youth who were abused, neglected or abandoned by a parent. | 

Civil rights groups have decried proposed federal changes to the Education Department鈥檚 data collection on racial disparities in special education that could make it more difficult to identify and address service gaps. | 

鈥楧ead-naming鈥� enforced: A Texas law now requires school employees to use names and pronouns that conform to students鈥� sex at birth. Several transgender students whose schools are complying say it has transformed school from a place of support to one that rejects who they are. | 

ICYMI @The74

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鈥淟et鈥檚 circle back in 2026.鈥�

-Taittinger, already

No, you鈥檙e not experiencing d茅j脿 vu. No, we’re not talking about some recent cyber incidents caused by teenagers, such as the PowerSchool data breach by a 19-year-old hacker from Massachusetts in 2024 who accessed sensitive data of more than 60 million students and 10 million teachers.

Watching PowerSchool make a comeback from such an incident made it clear that organizations can no longer afford to wait for proof that weaknesses exist. Continuous testing and engaging diverse perspectives are the best ways to stay ahead. That鈥檚 why this effort that began in July was intentionally designed to make students part of the solution, not the problem 鈥� to transform the same curiosity and skill that might lead to hacking toward cyber defense. 

After all, kids have been hacking computers, systems and schools since they鈥檝e existed 鈥� and they鈥檒l keep doing it. The difference now is that teenage defenders can help protect against teenage attackers.

The large-scale cyber incidents by teenagers emphasize three interconnected problems facing schools and our broader society:

First, our schools are dependent on a few key technology vendors that, if hacked, could shut down school districts across the country or lead to massive breaches of sensitive student, teacher and family data.

Second, teenage hackers who are fluent English-speakers 鈥� in loosely affiliated groups that go by names like Scattered Spider, Shiny Hunters, and Lapsus 鈥� have been behind some of the biggest cyber incidents in the past few years. They鈥檝e hacked organizations from Caesars casinos to Snowflake to Salesloft. Even giants like Google and Microsoft haven鈥檛 been spared. 

Some cyber experts have begun calling these young hackers Advanced Persistent Teenagers (or APTeens), a play on Advanced Persistent Threats (or APTs), the term used to describe sophisticated nation-state hacking groups from countries like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. 

Ultimately, our country faces a cyber workforce challenge that most strongly impacts 鈥渢arget rich, cyber poor鈥� sectors like schools, state and local governments, and small businesses that lack the funding and capacity to defend themselves against cyber threats.

With a different approach, progress can be made on all three problems 鈥� insecure tech, teenage hackers and the cyber workforce challenge 鈥� by creating an alternative pathway for teenage hackers. To make this work, edtech companies, hackers, policymakers, higher education and even high schools must provide a pathway that builds the skills the workforce needs. That includes offering the opportunity to receive immediate payment for hacking and bolstering the cybersecurity of key technologies society relies on daily.

With this in mind, in July, joined the and the to flip the APTeen challenge on its head. The goal was to promote hacking for good to secure our schools. The EdProtect Cybersecurity Research Symposium brought together teenage hackers, professional security researchers, and Skyward, a widely used edtech product, for a two-week live hacking event. 

The teenagers, college students from around the country, received support and training as they worked to find and report bugs. We know people learn best through hands-on experiences where novices can work alongside seasoned professionals and mentors, who were once teenagers too.

While live hacking events and bug bounty programs 鈥� where companies pay good-faith security researchers to find and share software bugs that can be used to hack their systems 鈥� are not new, they are rare in 鈥渢arget rich, cyber poor鈥� sectors like education. 

Since the nation鈥檚 14,000 school districts rely on the same few software vendors for their critical infrastructure, efforts like this to strengthen the cybersecurity of key vendors can have a dramatic impact for millions of students, families and teachers across the country. Furthermore, these endeavors shift the burden for managing cyber risk to the companies that are best positioned to address it.

Death row inmate Tremane Wood鈥檚 sixth-grade English teacher was standing outside the gates of his Oklahoma prison praying for his soul 鈥� and thinking he had already been executed 鈥� when she got word that .

It was 10:01 a.m. Thursday 鈥� a minute after Wood, 46, was scheduled to receive a lethal injection 鈥� that Cindy Birdwell and other supporters in the crowd learned that Gov. Kevin Stitt had decided to accept the state Pardon and Parole Board鈥檚 recommendation and commute Wood鈥檚 sentence to life imprisonment.

There was 鈥渨hooping,鈥� tears of joy and jumping up and down, she said. Birdwell said she was humbled and grateful to have played a part in it, saying she represented educators when she spoke before the parole board last week on Wood鈥檚 behalf. She wanted the outside world to know the 鈥渓ittle Tremane鈥� that she knew back in Stillwater Middle School in the early 1990s, she said, and for other teachers to recognize 鈥渢hey have little Tremanes鈥� in their class, too.

鈥淪omeone who is quiet sometimes, who鈥檚 ornery sometimes, who doesn鈥檛 do their work quite up to their potential, who stays back because they want more of your attention, who wants to tell you something but can鈥檛,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e just have to slow down a little and say, 鈥業 see you. I hear you.鈥欌��

Stitt said he came to his 11th-hour decision not to execute Wood for his role in the 2002 robbery and murder of a young farmworker after It marked only the second time in the Republican governor鈥檚 seven-year term that he granted clemency to a death row inmate.

The from his family, religious leaders and many others were mounting as his scheduled execution drew closer. Among those closely watching were Dan Losen, an attorney and senior director at the nonprofit National Center for Youth Law, who dug deep into Wood鈥檚 childhood records and interviewed his former teachers and administrators to argue that Wood was a victim of the school-to-prison pipeline.

In a 23-page report shared with 社区黑料 and a letter sent to the parole board, Losen concluded that school officials ignored overwhelming evidence that Wood was being beaten and neglected at home and that he suffered from learning and behavioral issues, such as ADHD and post-traumatic stress disorder, as a result. Instead of reporting that abuse or having Wood evaluated for special education services, as the law requires, they severely punished him. In middle school, Wood was suspended for six months 鈥� the end of sixth grade and the entire first half of seventh 鈥� for acting out and chronic absenteeism.

鈥淚 am so deeply grateful to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board for recommending clemency and to Governor Stitt for granting clemency to Tremane Wood,鈥� Losen said. 鈥淚 hope Tremane’s clemency, and the voices of similarly situated adults, will contribute to diminishing the unjust and disparate harm experienced by children due to inadequate training, supports and resources for schools. There are many schools that are doing a great deal to support traumatized youth, but far too many school districts, and far too many educators that still dismiss struggling students as 鈥榖ad kids.鈥欌��

Working with Losen were Birdwell and Alton Carter, the former assistant to Wood鈥檚 middle school vice principal, who was directly involved in disciplining Wood. He told Losen school officials knew the boy was 鈥渢raumatized, neglected and beaten鈥� and just wanted him out of school.

Carter has since gone on to be a child advocate and now he, Losen and Wood are planning to work together to better inform educators and school districts on how to support abused students.

鈥淗opefully, Tremane Wood’s story has already helped raise awareness of the importance of trauma-informed responses,鈥� Losen said.

Death row inmate Tremane Wood is set to be executed Thursday for a fatal stabbing he was . Now, in a last-ditch effort to save his life, the Oklahoma man鈥檚 sixth-grade teacher and a leading expert on student disability and the ties between school discipline and incarceration are calling on Gov. Kevin Stitt to spare him.

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended in a 3-2 vote last week that Stitt commute Wood鈥檚 sentence to life imprisonment. The 46-year-old is in a matter of days for the murder of a young farmworker that took place during a botched 2002 robbery, one that his older brother confessed to committing and was sentenced to life in prison for. 

While Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond maintains Wood is a callous killer, who carried out the fatal stabbing and whose life as a violent gangster continues today behind bars, his former English teacher Cindy Birdwell said Wood鈥檚 case is the result of an education system that failed him. 

In her testimony, Birdwell described how Wood was the victim of severe emotional, physical and sexual abuse as a child and expressed regret that she and other teachers at Stillwater Public Schools had missed the signs. The first time Birdwell visited Wood in prison, she said, she offered an apology. 

鈥淭he first thing I said to him was, 鈥業 am so sorry, Tremane. I am so sorry that I didn鈥檛 see your pain and tried to get you relief from that pain,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淗e just looked at me with his kind eyes, he smiled and said, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 all right.鈥� He said that school had been his happy place, the place where he felt safe and happy.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The argument that Wood鈥檚 public school and the adults there could have changed his life trajectory is the basis for a 23-page report by Dan Losen, an attorney and senior director at the nonprofit National Center for Youth Law. Losen, who sent a letter to the clemency board and shared his report with 社区黑料, had access to Wood’s education, medical, juvenile court and state Department of Health and Human Services records, and conducted interviews with numerous educators and administrators from a pivotal time when Wood was a student at Stillwater Middle School in the early 1990s. 

Losen concludes that school officials ignored overwhelming evidence that Wood was being beaten and neglected at home and that he suffered from learning and behavioral issues, such as ADHD and post-traumatic stress disorder, as a result. Instead of reporting that abuse or having Wood evaluated for special education services when the boy acted out in school or was chronically absent, they severely punished him. 

鈥淭hese failures all entailed choices by adults not to evaluate, not to investigate, not to communicate, and not to intervene, despite legal requirements to do so,鈥� Losen wrote. 鈥淭hese inactions by public school staff and administrators subjected Tremane to inadequate care and protection during his childhood, and had immeasurable negative consequences for his life.鈥�

It was during this period that the school decided to suspend Wood for an extraordinary amount of time, the last several months of sixth grade and the entire first half of his seventh-grade year. Losen points out that if Wood had been evaluated and classified as a student with a disability, there would have been legal safeguards in place against excluding him from school for that long and required provisions for educating him while he was suspended, such as placement in an alternative program. 

鈥淏ut when Tremane was only 12, rather than protect Tremane and find therapeutic ways to engage him in school, Stillwater school officials鈥� punitive response to his minor misconduct and chronic absenteeism caused Tremane to spend even more time in what school staff knew was a violent, dangerous, and neglectful home environment,鈥� he argued. 

The reasoning for all this, Losen said, came out in what he described as 鈥減erhaps [his] most revealing interview鈥� with Alton Carter, the assistant to the Stillwater Middle School vice principal three decades ago. 鈥淲ithout question [Wood] was traumatized, neglected and beaten,” Carter told Losen, and school officials 鈥渏ust wanted Tremane out.鈥�

Losen pointed to academic research findings that school suspensions are . The research has led to an effort by schools across the country to like suspensions and expulsions. 

A spokesperson for Stillwater Public Schools said Wood鈥檚 case is 鈥渁 deeply sad situation for everyone involved,鈥� but that federal student privacy laws prevent the district from divulging student records. Because Wood hasn鈥檛 been a student at the district for nearly 30 years, the spokesperson said, 鈥淚 could not locate any personnel who can speak to the events or circumstances of that era.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥業鈥檓 not a monster鈥�

During Wood鈥檚 clemency hearing, which hinged primarily on whether he received adequate legal defense, Birdwell was one of only two outside witnesses who spoke on his behalf. 

The former teacher said she got involved in the defense of Wood, who is Black, years ago after prosecutors portrayed him with 鈥渨ords like sociopath, psychopath, blah blah blah,鈥� while an incompetent, appointed by the court failed to defend him before a nearly all-white jury. 

鈥淚 knew Tremane and I knew that he was not some soulless killer,鈥� Birdwell said in an interview with 社区黑料. 鈥淚鈥檓 a Christian and I believe that I felt a calling.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Wood was convicted of felony murder and in 2004 sentenced to death for the slaying of Ronnie Wipf, a 19-year-old migrant farmworker who was lured into a hotel room near Oklahoma City on New Year鈥檚 Eve in 2001 and robbed. While Wood acknowledges he participated in the robbery, it was his brother, Jake Wood, who fatally stabbed Wipf. Both were convicted at separate trials of killing the young man. Jake Wood died by suicide in prison in 2019.

Tremane Wood was found guilty under Oklahoma鈥檚 felony murder law, which holds someone criminally responsible for murder if they take part in a violent felony that leads to someone鈥檚 death. 

At the clemency hearing, members of the parole board appeared swayed by Wood鈥檚 lawyer, who noted that the court-appointed attorney defending him at the time had devoted just two hours to the case and, before his death, wrote an apology to Wood on the back of a business card: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not your fault. It鈥檚 mine.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The factors that led Wood down a path of violent crime include 鈥渢he institutional failures of schools and juvenile services agencies to provide a sustained, therapeutic response to Tremane鈥檚 needs as a neglected and abused child,鈥� Amanda Bass Castro Alves, the assistant federal public defender, wrote in an email to 社区黑料. Prosecutors surfaced his experiences as a misguided teenager to support their case for the death penalty. 

鈥淚nstitutions often responded to Tremane鈥檚 acting out behaviors as a juvenile by punishing rather than helping him,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e was subjected to extended long term suspensions in middle school that left him vulnerable to the harmful influences that ultimately paved his pathway to prison.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

After the parole board vote, Drummond, the state attorney general, reemphasized Wood鈥檚 alleged misconduct since his incarceration. 

鈥淎fter this dangerous criminal took a young man鈥檚 life, he stayed fully active in the criminal world from behind bars,鈥� Drummond said in a statement. Prosecutors presented evidence during the clemency hearing that Wood was a gang leader who allowed drugs and violence to proliferate inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

鈥淢y office will continue to pursue justice for Ronnie Wipf. We intend to make our case to the governor on why clemency should not be granted and why the death sentence, as determined by a jury, should be carried out.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Assistant Attorney General Christina Burns testified during the hearing that Wood鈥檚 murder conviction was based on a 鈥渟eries of direct personal choices,鈥� and that early warning signs from his youth showed that he could be 鈥渋mpulsive, aggressive, and acted out in an antisocial manner, which can ultimately lead to antisocial personality disorder as an adult.鈥�

鈥淧ersistent adult antisocial behavior generally begins in adolescence and it can be flagged in children with symptoms that include poor anger controls, early developmental issues, early behavioral problems, manipulation of others and a failure to accept responsibility,鈥� Burns said, pointing to evidence that incarcerated teens experience a .

鈥淎s this case and Tremane鈥檚 most current prison activities show, these concerning personality traits are unfortunately validated by his adult behavior,” she said.

Speaking from video feed via prison, Wood said he was 鈥渁 man who has deep flaws,鈥� who has made poor decisions 鈥� including behind bars. But he doesn鈥檛 deserve to die. 

鈥淲ith the pressures of your life hanging in the balance, it gets tough trying to balance it all,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 not a monster. I鈥檓 not a killer.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Stitt, a Republican, to a death row inmate only once during his seven years in office while rejecting clemency recommendations for four others. A 鈥渄oes not take the process lightly鈥� and will meet with attorneys for all parties before making a decision this week.

Bright spots turn dark again

Wood鈥檚 very upbringing was rooted in violence and trauma. As a teenager, watching his father 鈥� a police officer 鈥� tie his mother to a chair, pour alcohol on her and threaten to light her on fire before beating his two sons. 

Twice during Wood鈥檚 young life he was removed from his violent home 鈥� and twice he did well, Losen documents. In 1994, Wood was placed in a therapeutic foster home in Cromwell, Oklahoma, where he attended Butner High School for his freshman year and had 鈥渘early perfect attendance, earned all As and Bs, and was a standout cornerback鈥� on the football team.

鈥淗is lengthy period of success provides a clear and positive picture of what Tremane might have experienced the rest of his childhood had his disabilities been identified, had support been provided, and had the pattern of abuse and neglect that he endured been ended permanently,鈥� Losen wrote.

Later, Wood was sent to a Department of Juvenile Justice residential program in Tecumseh and received 鈥済lowing reports of his cooperative good nature.鈥� Each time Wood was returned home from these more structured settings, Losen said, his problems resurfaced.

Losen cites documents in Wood鈥檚 record indicating that school officials suspected him of having a disability and being in need of services but they never evaluated him. Under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, any suspicion of a disability in a student should trigger a referral for evaluation. 

Oklahoma has 鈥渁 long history of non-compliance with the provisions of the IDEA pertaining to [identifying students with disabilities]  as well as a history of unjust discipline,鈥� Losen writes, citing a to the Oklahoma Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

It鈥檚 not alone. Losen refers to that notes an estimated 85% of young people housed in the juvenile justice system in 2007 had a disability, yet only 37% had been receiving any supports or services at school.

This is the population of public school kids that Wood now wants to help, Losen said. The researcher said he has already started working with the death row inmate to use his story to raise awareness among educators about the needs of traumatized children. It鈥檚 outreach that Alton Carter, the former vice principal鈥檚 assistant at Wood鈥檚 middle school, has already been doing and is now interested in teaming up with Wood as well, Losen said. 

The question now is whether Wood will still be here.

Larry Bushart Jr. was just freed from a Tennessee jail cell after spending more than a month behind bars 鈥斕�.

The high-profile arrest of the 61-year-old retiree and former cop 鈥斕齱hich made waves in free speech circles 鈥斕齢as all the hallmarks of听听in 2025:听

• A chronically online progressive turns to Facebook to troll his MAGA neighbors about President Donald Trump鈥檚 seemingly lopsided response to school shootings compared to the murder of right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk
  
• An elected, overzealous county sheriff intent on shutting him up
  
• A debate over the limits of the First Amendment 鈥� and the president鈥檚 broader efforts to silence his critics

 also calls attention to a series of recent Tennessee laws that carry harsh punishments for making school shooting threats and place police officers on campus threat assessment teams working to ferret out students with violent plans before anyone gets hurt. 

In Bushart鈥檚 case, the sheriff maintained that his post referring to the president鈥檚 reaction to a 2024 school shooting in Perry, Iowa, constituted a threat 鈥渙f mass violence at a school,鈥� apparently the local Perry County High School. The rules that ensnared Bushart have also . His is likely to be next, Bushart鈥檚 lawyer told The Washington Post.

In the news

Updates in Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown: Federal immigration officers chased a Chicago teacher into the lobby of a private preschool Wednesday and dragged her out as parents watched her cry 鈥渢engo papeles!鈥� or 鈥淚 have papers.鈥� The incident is perhaps the most significant immigration enforcement act in a school to date. | 

• Proposed federal rules would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to collect iris scans, fingerprints and other biometric data on all immigrants 鈥� including, for the first time, children under 14 years old 鈥� and store it for the duration of each individual person鈥檚 鈥渓ifecycle.鈥� |  

• On the same day Cornell University notified an international student that his immigration status had been revoked, Google alerted him that federal authorities had subpoenaed his personal emails. Now, the institution won鈥檛 say whether federal authorities had tapped into university 鈥渆mails to track [students] as well.鈥� | 

• In California, federal immigration officers shot a U.S. citizen from behind as he warned the agents that students would soon gather in the area to catch a school bus. The government says the shots were 鈥渄efensive.鈥� | 

• 鈥楧eportation isn鈥檛 a costume鈥�: A Maine middle school principal is facing pushback for a federal immigration officer Halloween costume, complete with a bulletproof vest that read 鈥淚CE.鈥� | 

• In Chicago communities that have seen the most significant increase in immigration enforcement, school enrollment has plunged. |

• Also in Chicago, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to hand over use-of-force records and body camera footage after trick-or-treaters were 鈥渢ear-gassed on their way to celebrate Halloween.鈥� |

A bipartisan bill seeks to bar minors from using AI chatbots as petrified parents testified their children used the tools with dire consequences 鈥� including suicide. Some warn the change could stifle the potential of chatbots for career or mental health counseling services. | 

• A Kentucky mom filed a federal lawsuit against online gaming communities Discord and Roblox alleging the companies jeopardized children鈥檚 safety in the name of profit. After her 13-year-old daughter died by suicide last year, the mom said, she found the girl had a second life online that idolized school shooters. | 
  
•  announced it will bar minors from its chatbots, acknowledging safety concerns about how 鈥渢eens do, and should, interact with this new technology.鈥� | 

A jury awarded $10 million to former Virginia teacher Abby Zwerner on Thursday, two years after she was shot by her 6-year-old student. Zwerner accused her former assistant principal of ignoring repeated warnings that the first grader had a gun. The  to nearly four years in prison for felony child neglect and federal weapons charges. | 

鈥楥reepy, unsettling鈥�: This family spent a week with Grem, a stuffed animal with artificial intelligence designed to 鈥渓earn鈥� children’ s personalities and hold educational conversations. | 

A judge ordered the Trump administration to release federal funds to California school districts after it sought to revoke nearly $165 million in mental health grants as part of a broader crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion.  The grants funded hundreds of school social workers and counselors. | 

In 95% of schools, active-shooter drills are now a routine part of campus life. Here鈥檚 how states are trying to make them less traumatic. | 

A lawsuit against a Pennsylvania school district alleges educators failed to keep students safe after a 12-year-old girl was attacked by a classmate with a metal Stanley drinking cup. | 

鈥業nviting government overreach and abuse鈥�: The Education Department was slapped with two lawsuits over new Public Service Loan Forgiveness rules that could bar student borrowers from the program who end up working for the president鈥檚 political opponents, including organizations that serve immigrant students and LGBTQ+ youth. | 

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Matilda plots her escape.

The 61-year-old retiree and former cop 鈥� who had a penchant for posting provocative progressive memes that made him stand out in his deeply conservative community southwest of Nashville 鈥� was to shoot up a local school. 

The evidence, which the county鈥檚 elected sheriff used to hold Bushart in a cell on a $2 million bond until last week, is a meme accusing President Donald Trump of dismissing the lives lost in a 2024 school shooting in Perry, Iowa, while pushing punishment for critics of slain right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk.

The charges were dropped and Bushart was released from the Perry County Jail in Linden, Tennessee, only after Sheriff Nick Weems acknowledged in a TV interview that Weems initially claimed that Bushart鈥檚 post set off 鈥渕ass hysteria鈥� that he was plotting a shooting at the local Perry County High School. 

The high-profile arrest appears to be part of a broader crackdown by Republican lawmakers 鈥� including the Trump administration 鈥斕齩n Americans whose social media posts about Kirk鈥檚 killing听they found to be offensive. Among them are in violation of the First Amendment for online posts about Kirk鈥檚 Sept. 10 death. Bushart鈥檚 case is an extreme example, civil rights advocates said, and may be the only one where someone has wound up in handcuffs. He

鈥淭his guy should never have been arrested in the first place, but the second that there was real scrutiny of the meme that he posted 鈥� and it was very apparent that he was not in any way suggesting that he intended to commit a school shooting or anything like that 鈥� he should have been released immediately,鈥� said Brian Hauss, an American Civil Liberties Union senior staff attorney who focuses on free speech issues and called Bushart鈥檚 arrest 鈥渁n absolute travesty.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Bushart鈥檚 arrest calls attention to applying strict penalties for school shooting threats and mandating police officer involvement in campus threat assessments intended to ferret out students with violent plans before they act. The bipartisan laws, passed in the wake of the 2023 mass school shooting at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, have led to a wave of student arrests and have similarly become the subject of . 

The state鈥檚 new and 鈥渋ncredibly broad鈥� laws can be used as a 鈥渃onvenient tool,鈥� Hauss said, for law enforcement officials with 鈥減olitical grudges to settle.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Weems, himself an avid Facebook user who warned after Kirk鈥檚 death that 鈥渆vil could be standing right beside you in the grocery store,鈥� didn鈥檛 respond to interview requests. Neither did Bushart nor the local school district. 

While Bushart鈥檚 school days are long behind him, his case is a prime example of why police shouldn鈥檛 be 鈥減art of the broader role of educators鈥� in scrutinizing students鈥� behaviors to distinguish an 鈥渙ff-the-cuff remark of a frustrated student鈥� from a threat of violence, said Dan Losen, a senior director at the National Center for Youth Law who has spent more than two decades researching school discipline policies and the so-called school-to-prison pipeline.  

鈥淥nce the police are involved, they鈥檙e entrenched,鈥� Losen said, adding that officers can make arrests even without the support of educators on threat assessment teams. While law enforcement should be called in threatening circumstances, he said there鈥檚 a greater risk for 鈥渓aw enforcement to abuse their authority鈥� if they鈥檙e regularly asked to evaluate student conduct through a policing mindset. 

鈥淭hey can, at any point, decide that a student is a threat,鈥� Losen said. 鈥淭hey can go after people that they don鈥檛 like 鈥� they can go after their kids.鈥�

Losen said he initially saw value in school-based threat assessments as 鈥渁 clear process鈥� to evaluate students鈥� conduct and react appropriately. In recent years, however, he鈥檚 come to believe the research supporting the model lacks rigor and that it鈥檚 led to a surge in unjust suspensions and arrests 鈥�

鈥業 don鈥檛 care, I want him arrested鈥�

In states across the country, police officers have become routinely involved in evaluating students鈥� behaviors and motives as members of formal campus-based behavioral threat assessment teams. School-based threat assessments have become mainstream, particularly in the aftermath of the 2018 mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Schools nationally have assembled teams of teachers, mental health officials, police and other campus adults to identify students who pose safety threats and intervene with counseling and other services 鈥� and sometimes arrests 鈥� before anyone commits violence. 

Such teams are used in 85% of schools across the U.S., by the nonprofit Learning Policy Institute. Forty-five states have policies that establish the teams in public schools, the report states, and 20 have laws requiring them. 

District leaders have also turned to technology for school safety, using artificial intelligence-powered surveillance tools to scan social media websites in search of posts that could spell danger. 

Threat assessments have prompted concerns from civil rights groups that the method could misidentify struggling students as future gunmen and unnecessarily push them into the juvenile justice system. School shootings are statistically rare yet student behaviors that are often factors in threat assessments 鈥� like alcohol use and a history of mental health issues 鈥� are exceedingly common.

In 2023, Tennessee lawmakers passed rules requiring every school to have threat assessment teams that included police officers. That same year, lawmakers established mandatory yearlong expulsions for students who make violent threats against schools. In 2024, lawmakers increased the penalty for threats against schools from a misdemeanor to a felony. Georgia and New Mexico have since . 

The changes have led to , according to reporting by The Tennessean. Last year, 518 students statewide were arrested under the new law, 71 of them between the ages of 7 and 11. Some of the arrests were preceded, the outlet reported, by ill-advised jokes and statements erroneously perceived as threats. 

In one case, a high school student was arrested for allegedly making a 鈥淗itler salute鈥� and, despite a lack of evidence, the principal said 鈥淚 don鈥檛 care, I want him arrested.鈥� The teen was reportedly taken into custody, strip-searched and placed in solitary confinement at the local juvenile jail. 

When speech becomes a 鈥榯rue threat鈥�

The rate of school shootings has surged in recent years, yet early interventions have received credit for saving lives in several instances. 

In September, the nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise 鈥� which was formed in the wake of the 2012 mass school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 first graders and six school staffers dead 鈥� boasted of .

A high school student reported to the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System “detailed threats on social media,鈥� to shoot up a local school complete with images of ammunition, a mapped-out attack plan and access to a gun, according to the nonprofit, which notified a local school district response team. The student who made the alleged threats was ultimately detained by the police. 

Sandy Hook Promise claims the incident is the 19th planned school shooting they鈥檝e prevented since 2018. School shootings are , a majority of whom leak their violent plans to people around them in advance, offering officials a window to act. 

Mo Canady, the executive director of the nonprofit National Association of School Resource Officers, said the police play a critical role in assessing school threats and preventing campus violence. Canady acknowledged that social media, in particular, 鈥渋s not an easy environment to navigate鈥� when trying to decipher whether someone鈥檚 speech constitutes a threat.

But the focus needs to be placed on keeping campuses safe, he said, rather than 鈥渂eing hyperfocused on, 鈥極h my gosh, am I violating someone鈥檚 First Amendment rights?鈥� 

鈥淧eople have a right to say what they want to say, but there are also consequences at times to what they say,鈥� Canady said. 鈥淔rom a behavioral threat assessment standpoint, I don鈥檛 think there’s ever an intent there to try to squish anyone’s First Amendment rights. That’s not what this is about.鈥�

In its new report on school-based threat assessments, the Learning Policy Institute concluded that the approach appears effective in preventing violence at schools where it鈥檚 implemented with high fidelity and where educators receive instruction from expert trainers. In the absence of adequate staff and training, educators often turn to suspensions, expulsions and arrests to handle students who are viewed as problematic. 

Poorly designed assessments have led to concerns they 鈥渕ay target and potentially traumatize the most vulnerable students, including through the exclusion and criminalization of historically marginalized students.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

It also called for additional research into threat assessments, noting that much of the existing evidence supporting them comes from a team of University of Virginia researchers who developed a model used in schools nationwide. In one 2021 study, resulted in low student disciplinary rates and didn鈥檛 exhibit racial disparities in outcomes. 

Psychologist Dewey Cornell, the principal author of the university鈥檚 Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines, declined an interview request, but argued that First Amendment implications were rare.

鈥淔ree speech objections to threat assessment don鈥檛 come up very often in school threat settings,鈥� Cornell wrote 社区黑料 in an email. 鈥淭here is case law on how threats are excluded from free speech protections.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The Supreme Court has set a high bar for what constitutes a 鈥渢rue threat,鈥� and the Cato Institute, the libertarian think tank, said Bushart鈥檚 Facebook post fell . In a 1969 Supreme Court opinion, the group noted, the nation鈥檚 top court 鈥渕ade it crystal clear that only true threats are exempt from the freedom of speech 鈥� not hyperbole and political bombast.鈥�

 In 2023, the Supreme Court further strengthened First Amendment protections, finding someone can only make a 鈥渢rue threat鈥� if they knowingly disregard a 鈥渟ubstantial risk鈥� that their speech would cause harm. 

In Bushart鈥檚 case, it doesn鈥檛 matter whether the sheriff鈥檚 actions were the result of a misunderstanding about the intent behind the Facebook post or an effort to censor speech he found objectionable, the ACLU鈥檚 Hauss said. The monthlong confinement violated the Tennessee citizen鈥檚 constitutional rights. 

Hauss said he understands 鈥渢he very serious security concerns when it comes to school shootings.鈥� But campus safety matters, he said, 鈥渟hould not be left up to people who can鈥檛 distinguish political speech from threats of violence.鈥�

The robots have 

New research suggests that a majority of  at school. To write essays. To solve complicated math problems. To find love. 

Wait, what? 

Nearly a fifth of students said they or a friend have used artificial intelligence chatbots to form romantic relationships, according to . Some 42% said they or someone they know used the chatbots for mental health support, as an escape from real life or as a friend.

Eighty-six percent of students say they鈥檝e used artificial intelligence chatbots in the past academic year 鈥� half to help with schoolwork.

The tech-enabled convenience, researchers conclude, doesn’t come without significant risks for young people. Namely, as AI proliferates in schools 鈥� with help from the federal government and a zealous tech industry 鈥� on a promise to improve student outcomes, they warn that young people could grow socially and emotionally disconnected from the humans in their lives. 

• Dig Deeper: 

In the news

The latest in Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown: The survey featured above, which quizzed students, teachers and parents, also offers startling findings on immigration enforcement in schools: 
While more than a quarter of educators said their school collects information about whether a student is undocumented, 17% said their district shares records 鈥� including grades and disciplinary information 鈥� with immigration enforcement. 

In the last school year, 13% of teachers said a staff member at their school reported a student or parent to immigration enforcement of their own accord. | 

• Call for answers: In the wake of immigration enforcement that鈥檚 ensnared children, New York congressional Democrats are demanding the feds release information about the welfare of students held in detention, my colleague Jo Napolitano reports. | 
• A 13-year-old boy from Brazil, who has lived in a Boston suburb since 2021 with a pending asylum application, was scooped up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after local police arrested him on a 鈥渃redible tip鈥� accusing him of making 鈥渁 violent threat鈥� against a classmate at school. The boy鈥檚 mother said her son wound up in a Virginia detention facility and was 鈥渄esperate, saying ICE had taken him.鈥� | 
• Chicago teenagers are among a group of activists patrolling the city鈥檚 neighborhoods to monitor ICE鈥檚 deployment to the city and help migrants avoid arrest. | 
• Immigration agents detained a Chicago Public Schools vendor employee outside a school, prompting educators to move physical education classes indoors out of an 鈥渁bundance of caution.鈥� | 
• A Des Moines, Iowa, high schooler was detained by ICE during a routine immigration check-in, placed in a Louisiana detention center and deported to Central America fewer than two weeks later. |
• A 15-year-old boy with disabilities 鈥� who was handcuffed outside a Los Angeles high school after immigration agents mistook him for a suspect 鈥� is among more than 170 U.S. citizens, including nearly 20 children, who have been detained during the first nine months of the president’s immigration push. | 
  

Trigger warning: After a Washington state teenager hanged himself on camera, the 13-year-old boy鈥檚 parents set out to find out what motivated their child to livestream his suicide on Instagram while online users watched. Evidence pointed to a sadistic online group that relies on torment, blackmail and coercion to weed out teens they deem weak. | 

Civil rights advocates in New York are sounding the alarm over a Long Island school district鈥檚 new AI-powered surveillance system, which includes round-the-clock audio monitoring with in-classroom microphones. | 

A federal judge has ordered the Department of Defense to restock hundreds of books after a lawsuit alleged students were banned from checking out texts related to race and gender from school libraries on military bases in violation of the First Amendment. | 

More than 600 armed volunteers in Utah have been approved to patrol campuses across the state to comply with a new law requiring armed security. Called school guardians, the volunteers are existing school employees who agree to be trained by local law enforcement and carry guns on campus. | 

No 鈥淛ackass鈥�: Instagram announced new PG-13 content features that restrict teenagers from viewing posts that contain sex, drugs and 鈥渞isky stunts.鈥� | 

A Tuscaloosa, Alabama, school resource officer restrained and handcuffed a county commissioner after a spat at an elementary school awards program. | 

The number of guns found at Minnesota schools has increased nearly threefold in the last several years, new state data show. | 

More than half of Florida鈥檚 school districts received bomb threats on a single evening last week. The threats weren鈥檛 credible, officials said, and appeared to be 鈥減art of a hoax intended to solicit money.鈥� | 

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The Massachusetts teenager set to be sentenced next week for  was a 鈥渟easoned cybercriminal鈥� who has targeted educational institutions, government agencies and corporations since 2021, my latest investigation reveals. 

Good morning and thank you for tuning in for a special edition of . Today, I turn your attention to Matthew Lane, who was a 19-year-old college freshman when he pleaded guilty earlier this year to carrying out a cyberattack on PowerSchool, stealing sensitive data from millions of students and teachers and leveraging it into 

In my latest story published this morning, I reveal how  according to threat intelligence research conducted by the cybersecurity company Cyble and provided exclusively to 社区黑料. The company鈥檚 findings, which mirror sentencing documents released by federal prosecutors on Wednesday, conclude that Lane used advanced techniques to take down his targets including PowerSchool 鈥� a cyberattack attack that represented 鈥渁 predictable escalation rather than an isolated incident.鈥�

Federal prosecutors used similar language, maintaining that Lane鈥檚 鈥渃rimes were not a mistake resulting from an isolated lapse in judgment,鈥� but rather part of a pattern of criminal cyber activity that dates back to at least 2021.

In an analysis of digital fingerprints and data breaches, Cyble analysts concluded that Lane had been  when he was still in high school. Targets included an alcoholic beverage company, a major U.S. supermarket chain, an Indonesian telecommunications company and the Colombian armed forces, Cyble said. In Wednesday鈥檚 memo, prosecutors allege that Lane has hacked at least eight targets, including 鈥渇oreign government entities.鈥� To this day, prosecutors said, most of the millions of dollars he extorted remains unaccounted for.

In federal district court in Worcester, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, they will ask the judge to sentence Lane, who was known to many in his life as a soft-spoken gamer and skilled computer programmer, to seven years in prison and more than $14 million in restitution. 

The top campus security story this week is the resignation of Iowa鈥檚 largest school district superintendent, who was  on allegations he was living and working in the U.S. without authorization. 

In a 鈥渢argeted enforcement operation鈥澨�, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Ian Roberts, a 54-year-old native of Guyana, who has led Des Moines Public Schools since 2023.

The fast-moving chain of events raises questions about why ICE agents specifically sought the arrest of the public official and the city鈥檚 first Black schools superintendent, whom federal officials said had a previously unreported final order of removal issued by an immigration judge on May 29. Yesterday, he was accused of federal firearm charges for听.

The Trump administration has already听. The Justice Department announced Tuesday it would investigate Des Moines Public Schools to determine if it engaged in race-based hiring.听

In 2021, the district鈥檚听听said that out of Des Moines Public Schools鈥� 4,000 staff members, some 400 were Black. His comments were made as the district reflected on hiring听.

The unraveling of Roberts鈥� career is also听. The school board, whose vetting practices have come under scrutiny, released a letter this week saying it is 鈥渁lso a victim,鈥� after Roberts was accused of falsifying records about his immigration status and academic credentials.

Roberts,听for his native Guyana who came to the U.S. in 1999听previously served in leadership roles at school districts in Pennsylvania and Missouri and at a major charter school network.听

In the news

A TikTok post led to the arrest of a Kennewick, Washington, 14-year-old who officials say had guns, a color-coded map of his high school and a manifesto outlining plans to carry out a campus shooting. |听

In California, authorities say an anonymous tip thwarted a potential school shooting after a student posted 鈥渄etailed threats鈥� on social media including a 鈥渕apped-out plan.鈥� |听
The Education Department announced it would withhold more than $65 million in federal grants to the New York City, Chicago and Fairfax, Virginia, school districts for upholding equity policies designed to support transgender and Black youth. |听

Campus speech at the forefront: More than 350 complaints have been submitted to the Texas education department against public school employees accused of publishing social media posts that praised the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. | 

• The Los Angeles Unified School District faces accusations that its social media policy,听which allows educators to ban parents from campus for making threatening or racist online comments about school officials, violates the First Amendment. |听
  
• 鈥楾ruly scandalous鈥�:听The Trump administration engaged in the 鈥渦nconstitutional suppression of free speech鈥� when federal immigration enforcement officials arrested and sought to deport international college students for their pro-Palestinian activism. |听
  
• A new PEN America report warns of a 鈥渄isturbing normalization of censorship鈥� in public schools where book bans have risen sharply in the last few years. The 1962 novel听A Clockwork Orange听by Anthony Burgess topped the list. |听听
  
• Lawrence, Kansas, school officials were accused of censoring high school journalists and intimidating their adviser in violation of state law after current and former students filed a federal lawsuit alleging the district鈥檚 use of a digital student surveillance tool violated their privacy and press freedom rights. |听
  
  • The student activity monitoring tool Gaggle, which flags keywords like 鈥渒ill鈥� and 鈥渂omb,鈥� 鈥渉as helped our staff intervene and save lives,鈥� the Lawrence district says. But students say the system subjected them to false allegations. |听
    
  • 社区黑料 throwback:听Meet the gatekeepers of students鈥� private lives. |听

鈥楶laces of care, not chaos鈥�: California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law new rules that require federal immigration enforcement officers to show a warrant or court order before entering a school campus or questioning students. | 

Minnesota鈥檚 red flag gun law, which allows authorities to confiscate firearms from people with violent plans, has been used to prevent school shootings but its use is inconsistent, an investigation found. |听

A middle school boy from New York was arrested on allegations of catfishing classmates by impersonating a girl online, convincing male classmates to send him sexually revealing photographs and extorting them for cash or gift cards. | 

The Trump administration plans to overhaul a student loan forgiveness program for employees at nonprofits that officials claim are engaged in 鈥渋llegal activities鈥� 鈥� a justification that could be used to target organizations that serve immigrants and transgender youth. | 

A Michigan school district, where four elementary school girls said they were groped by a classmate on the playground, is accused of waiting eight days to report the incident to the police. | 

ICYMI @The74

Emotional Support

社区黑料 will meet for a company summit in Minneapolis next week. Matilda wasn鈥檛 invited, but she couldn鈥檛 care less.

Right-wing political operative Charlie Kirk was discussing one of the most divisive topics in contemporary U.S. politics 鈥� school shootings 鈥� when a bullet pierced his neck. 

Before he was gunned down on a Utah college campus, the 31-year-old activist built a reputation as a free-speech absolutist whose provocative, pull-no-punches commentary made him an icon for many young conservatives and a villain to liberal college students who sought to shut him up.

Now, it’s his critics who find themselves on the receiving end of censorship as the Trump administration endorses a doxxing campaign against people who鈥檝e engaged in online 鈥渉ate speech鈥� and educators face consequences at work for critical social media posts. For students, it鈥檚 a fraught environment that offers new First Amendment risks, experts told me this week.

鈥淪omebody silenced Charlie Kirk, and that person probably wanted less speech,鈥� said Adam Goldstein, the vice president of strategic initiatives at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. 鈥淪o if our reaction to that is to start silencing each other, then we鈥檙e doing the work of assassins for them.”

Authorities have accused 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of murdering Kirk for his 鈥減olitical expression.鈥� Prosecutors released a series of text messages Tuesday between Robinson and his roommate and romantic partner in which the suspected killer said he had enough of Kirk鈥檚 鈥渉atred,鈥� and that 鈥渟ome hate can鈥檛 be negotiated out.鈥�

In the news

A teenager who shot two students at a suburban Denver High school on the same day as Kirk鈥檚 murder had 鈥渁 deep fascination with mass shooters鈥� and TikTok accounts 鈥渇illed with white supremacist symbolism.鈥� | 

• On the morning of the Evergreen High School attack, the school-based police officer was away from campus responding to a nearby car crash.听

The Uvalde, Texas, school district canceled classes for four days this week after it became the target of a ransomware attack. The district suffered a 2022 school shooting that left 19 elementary schoolers and two teachers dead. Campus security infrastructure, including surveillance cameras, were compromised by the cyberattack, the district said. | 

California reformed its student discipline regime 鈥� including a ban on suspensions for willful defiance 鈥� in a bid to combat racial and socioeconomic disparities. It hasn鈥檛 worked. | 

From 鈥榟omework helper鈥� to 鈥榮uicide coach鈥�: Parents testified at an emotionally raw Senate hearing Tuesday that their children were driven to suicide by artificial intelligence chatbots, including ChatGPT and Character.AI. Among those who testified are parents suing tech companies alleging their children鈥檚 use of chatbots led to harm or death. | 

• Florida mother Megan Garcia鈥檚 lawsuit alleges the Character.AI chatbot formed an abusive relationship with her 14-year-old son, Sewell, that drove him to suicide. |听
• 鈥淣o parent should have to give their own child’s eulogy,鈥� she told lawmakers. 鈥淎fter losing Sewell, I have spoken with parents across the country who have discovered their children have been groomed, manipulated and harmed by AI chatbots. This is not a rare or isolated case.鈥� |听
• In May, a federal judge rejected Character.AI鈥檚 arguments that its chatbots are protected by the First Amendment. |听
• On the same day as the hearing, OpenAI announced it would add an age prediction feature to its chatbots and tailor responses for younger audiences. |听
• Why parents should talk to their kids about the risks of AI. |听

A new Pew Research Center poll shows overwhelming public support for international students at U.S. colleges and universities, even as they get entangled in the Trump administration鈥檚 immigration crackdown. | 

New laws in 31 states and the District of Columbia restrict students鈥� cellphone use at school, according to a new analysis by the National Association of State Boards of Education. Yet the group argues the policies 鈥渕ay not address the full range of harms to student safety and mental health arising from risky online behaviors 鈥� or equip students with the digital literacy skills they need.鈥� | 

New in Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown: A New York school superintendent flew to Texas and tried to give a cap, gown and diploma to an undocumented student who was detained just weeks before his high school graduation. | 

• 鈥業mmense fear and terror鈥�:听How the militarized surge of law enforcement in Washington, D.C., has taken a toll on the city鈥檚 kids. |听
• A Maine congresswoman has called on immigration agents to give a 鈥渇ull accounting鈥� of its decision to arrest a father after he dropped off his child at school. |听
• A man shot and killed by ICE agents during a traffic stop last week dropped his children off at school moments before his death. |听

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has put a hold on new state social studies standards that parents, educators and faith leaders allege impose Christian beliefs on students in violation of the First Amendment. | 

The Green Bay, Wisconsin, school district will require middle and high schoolers to use clear backpacks after a student was arrested for bringing a gun to class. | 

ICYMI @The74

Emotional Support

Everybody say meow to Taittinger, the new cat around the house.

Just not too loudly or she鈥檒l scurry under the bed.

The 31-year-old activist, who was shot dead last week while debating before an audience of 3,000 at a Utah college campus, had built a reputation as a provocateur. In campus debates and to millions of online followers, Kirk鈥檚 populist crusade to on hotbed issues like immigration, transgender rights and gun control made him a brash, pull-no-punches icon for many young conservatives and a villain to who sought to shut him up. 

Kirk鈥檚 killing has reignited debates around another divisive issue 鈥� one that was central to his political identity 鈥� and that experts say could now face major upheaval: campus free speech. 

First Amendment experts told 社区黑料 Kirk being gunned down 鈥� a gruesome moment that was videotaped and 鈥� was 鈥渢he ultimate form of cancel culture.鈥� It then resulted in swift, widespread censorship and promised retribution. 

President Donald Trump, who counted Kirk as both a close friend and key political ally, said he intends to go after left-wing groups, labeling them as . Under threat by the Federal Communications Commission, indefinitely after the late night host claimed the Trump administration was 鈥渄esperately trying鈥� to characterize Kirk鈥檚 alleged killer 鈥渁s anything other than one of them.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

It was teachers who were among the first to be singled out for their comments on Kirk鈥檚 death. 

In Virginia, an educator was reportedly post that said 鈥淚 hope he suffered through all of it.鈥� In Texas, for suggesting Kirk鈥檚 death was the 鈥渃onsequences of his actions.鈥� In Iowa, a teacher was for posting online 鈥�1 Nazi down.鈥� South Carolina GOP Rep. Nancy Mace called on the Education Department from any school district that refuses to fire educators who 鈥済lorify or justify political violence.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

At the same time, students face a heightened risk of backlash for engaging in fraught, hyperpartisan discourse, including for constitutionally protected free speech, said First Amendment attorney Adam Goldstein. 

鈥淪omebody silenced Charlie Kirk and that person probably wanted less speech,鈥� said Goldstein, the vice president of strategic initiatives at the , a nonprofit that advocates for student speech rights. 鈥淪o if our reaction to that is to start silencing each other, then we鈥檙e doing the work of assassins for them.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Authorities have Kirk for his 鈥減olitical expression.鈥� Prosecutors released a series of text messages Tuesday between Robinson and his roommate and romantic partner in which the suspected killer said he had enough of Kirk鈥檚 鈥渉atred,鈥� and that 鈥渟ome hate can鈥檛 be negotiated out.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Goldstein said censoring political dialogue 鈥� even if it鈥檚 lewd or offensive 鈥� is the wrong approach to Kirk鈥檚 slaying, which is part of a broader rise in political violence in the U.S. Such a climate, roughly two-thirds of Americans , is the result of harsh political rhetoric. In an act of political violence in June, a man impersonating a police officer her husband and their golden retriever Gilbert.

Though a complete picture of the factors that led to Kirk鈥檚 killing remains unknown, research by Goldstein鈥檚 group, known as FIRE, points to a 鈥� and an embrace of violence to cancel those they disagree with. a teenager, who was and held neo-Nazi views, shot two students at a suburban Denver high school before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 

A third of college students support violence to stop someone from speaking on campus 鈥渁t least in rare cases,鈥� according to a new FIRE survey released just a day before Kirk鈥檚 death. A quarter said they often self-censor around their peers to avoid potential backlash. 

The results showed a growing acceptance among students 鈥� including those who identify as Republicans 鈥� to shout at speakers in a bid to shut them up, to block their classmates from attending public speeches and to resort to censorship-driven violence. 

But it鈥檚 often left-wing activists who have been a key motivator for Kirk, who founded his youth-driven group in 2012. Through countless visits to college campuses, he forcefully made room for opposing viewpoints, many of them considered racist, anti-LGBTQ and misogynist.听

At the high school level, shows overwhelming support among students for free speech rights 鈥� but the situation becomes complicated with subjects they deem 鈥渙ffensive鈥� or 鈥渢hreatening.鈥�

While students generally have First Amendment rights at school, those freedoms end when their speech to the educational environment. Educators are held to a similar standard. First Amendment scholar Clay Calvert said endorsements of violence could cross that line. 

鈥淧eople have a right to criticize his views, but that鈥檚 different than celebrating his death,鈥� said Calvert, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e criticizing his views, as a student you鈥檙e more likely to be protected because it鈥檚 political speech. 

鈥淚f you鈥檙e celebrating his death,鈥� Calvert said, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 less likely to be protected.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Students reject 鈥榯hreatening鈥� speech

Kirk was perhaps best known as an online personality whose hard-right political commentary routinely drew hecklers and calls for colleges to rescind his planned visits. It鈥檚 a campus climate  

He questioned the , claimed that 鈥淚slam is,鈥� and stated that immigrants crossing into the U.S. from the southern border were part of a to eliminate white rural Americans.

While promoting those views, and married father of two was a staunch supporter of free speech. 

鈥淲hen people stop talking, that鈥檚 when you get violence,鈥� Kirk said in uploaded to social media. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when civil war happens, because you start to think the other side is so evil, and they lose their humanity.鈥�

As Kirk tested the free speech boundaries on campuses, data suggest college students have grown increasingly hostile to their peers with opposing viewpoints, according to that鈥檚 gauged students鈥� support for the First Amendment since 2004. 

In 2024, 27% of survey respondents said their campuses should 鈥減rotect students by prohibiting speech they may find offensive or biased,鈥� up from 22% in 2021. Three-fifths, or 60%, of students reported a campus culture where people were prevented from sharing their beliefs because others might find their opinions offensive. That鈥檚 an increase from 54% in 2016. 

At the high school level, the Knight Foundation survey data show, the campus speech rights of people with unpopular opinions. The data have remained relatively consistent between 2004 and 2022, the most recent year in which the survey was conducted. In 2022, 89% of surveyed high schoolers said people 鈥渟hould be allowed to express unpopular opinions,鈥� up from a low of 76% in 2007.

Support among high school students  fell drastically, however, for speech they deemed 鈥渙ffensive鈥� or 鈥渢hreatening.鈥� Among the high school respondents in 2022, 40% said people should be able to say whatever they want even if it鈥檚 offensive and 28% said threatening speech should be allowed.

Another survey of college students, , found an overwhelming majority of young people feel heard on campus. 

About three-quarters of those seeking their bachelor鈥檚 degree reported 鈥渆xcellent鈥� or 鈥済ood鈥� efforts by their institutions to promote free speech, results that held consistent across the political spectrum. Students who identify as Republicans were just 1 percentage point more likely than their Democratic counterparts to report 鈥減oor鈥� speech rights on campus. 

鈥榃itch hunt鈥�

Following Kirk’s death, the Trump administration to search out, identify and harass his social media critics. Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed to 鈥渁bsolutely target鈥� people who engage in 鈥渉ate speech.鈥� Such expressions are and Bondi walked back her comments after she faced criticism from observers across the political spectrum. 

In Texas, the state education department announced this week it was reviewing at least over online comments about Kirk鈥檚 assasination.  The reviews came after Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said the agency would and encouraged the public to file complaints. 

鈥淲hile the exercise of free speech is a fundamental right we are all blessed to share, it does not give carte blanche authority to celebrate or sow violence against those that share differing beliefs and perspectives,鈥� Morath wrote in the letter last week. 

The Texas American Federation of Teachers has condemned the investigations, which the group called a 鈥減olitical witch hunt.鈥� Union President Zeph Capo said the letter amounted to 鈥渁 statewide directive to hunt down and fire educators for opinions shared on their personal social media accounts.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥淚t鈥檚 no surprise that, here in Texas, the purge of civil servants starts with teachers,鈥� Capo said in a statement. 鈥淚f you value your freedom, now is the time to speak up and defend the rights of all Texans to exercise their constitutional right to have an opinion on matters of civil discourse.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Colleges have faced similar scrutiny. The American Association of University Professors, a nonprofit trade association for college educators, said it was alarmed by 鈥渢he rash of recent administrative actions to discipline faculty, staff and student speech.鈥� In Trump鈥檚 second term, higher education 鈥�  and 鈥� has been among the president鈥檚 top targets. 

鈥淎t a moment when higher education is threatened by forces that seek to destroy it and its role in a democratic society,鈥� the group said in a statement, 鈥渢he anticipatory obedience shown by this rush to judgment must be avoided.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

In , Calvert of the University of Florida notes that the First Amendment protects educators against censorship by their public school employers 鈥� 鈥渂ut those rights are not absolute.鈥� At play is an educator鈥檚 interest in speaking as a private citizen versus school leaders鈥� 鈥渋nterest in an efficient, disruption-free workplace.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

If a teacher revels in Kirk鈥檚 death on social media, he told 社区黑料, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 clearly going to disrupt that educational environment and interfere with it.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥淚n this case, it鈥檚 a public school trying to teach students effectively and you can imagine if you were a Kirk supporter, you鈥檇 say, 鈥業 can鈥檛 take this class from this professor or this teacher, he or she has posted online celebrating Charlie Kirk鈥檚 death,鈥欌�� Calvert said.  

Goldstein of FIRE challenged Bondi鈥檚 early assertions that hate speech was criminal, noting the concept is 鈥渟omething we made up to describe a bunch of words we don鈥檛 like,鈥� but lacks a legal definition. While he鈥檚 seen gleeful online commentary about Kirk鈥檚 killing, he said he hasn鈥檛 come across any that breach the free-speech threshold of being or  

鈥淢uch of what I鈥檝e seen I would characterize as unkind, mocking, maybe uncharitable in the moment,鈥� he said, but not calls for violence 鈥渢hat are likely to be received by an audience willing to do it.鈥� In fact, he said the First Amendment was specifically designed to protect the rights of citizens to hold unpopular beliefs. 

鈥淎s far as I know, no one in history has ever tried to stop you from talking about how much you like puppies because everybody likes puppies and there鈥檚 no reason to censor that,鈥� Goldstein said. 鈥淪peech that we hate is precisely the kind of thing the First Amendment is concerned with protecting.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Yet, with the government鈥檚 endorsement of censorship in the wake of Kirk鈥檚 death comes a tinge of irony. Prior to being killed reportedly for his beliefs, Kirk held an absolutist position on the First Amendment. 

鈥淗ate speech does not exist legally in America,鈥� 鈥淭here鈥檚 ugly speech. There鈥檚 gross speech. There鈥檚 evil speech.

And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment.

Keep America free.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

It鈥檚 another hot summer Friday and another day with  鈥� this one jeopardizing both student health and campus safety data.

And once again, the development is unfolding in the country鈥檚 second-largest school district.

Kokomo Solutions, which the Los Angeles district contracts with , disclosed a data breach after it discovered an 鈥渦nauthorized third party鈥� on its computer network. The discovery happened in December 2024, but the notice to the California attorney general鈥檚 office wasn鈥檛 made until Aug. 5.  

It鈥檚 the latest in a series of data privacy incidents affecting L.A. schools, including a high-profile 2022 ransomware attack exposing students鈥� sensitive mental health records and last year鈥檚 collapse of a much-lauded $6 million artificial intelligence chatbot project. 

In the news

Students at the center of Trump鈥檚 D.C. police takeover: In an unprecedented federal power grab, the Trump administration鈥檚 seizure of the D.C. police department and National Guard deployment is designed to target several vulnerable groups 鈥� including kids. | 

• The move comes at a time when crime in the nation鈥檚 capital is on the decline. But a deep-dive from June explores how the district鈥檚 failure to prevent student absences has contributed to 鈥渢he biggest youth crime surge in a generation.鈥� |听
  
• Here鈥檚 what young people have to say about Trump鈥檚 D.C. takeover. |听
  
• City police will roll out a youth-specific curfew Friday in the Navy Yard neighborhood. |听

A new Ohio law requires school districts to implement basic cybersecurity measures in response to heightened cyberattacks. What the law doesn鈥檛 do, however, is provide any money to carry out the new mandate. |  

News in Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown: A federal judge in Minnesota has released from immigration detention a nursing 25-year-old mother, allowing her to return to her children as her case works its way through the court. | 

• The Trump administration has revived one of its most controversial immigration policies from the president鈥檚 first term: Separating families. |听
  
• Federal immigration officials quizzed an Idaho school resource officer about an unaccompanied migrant student, part of a broader national effort to conduct “welfare checks鈥� on immigrant youth who came to the U.S. without their parents. |听
  
• Leading Oklahoma Republican lawmakers have partnered with the Trump administration in a lawsuit challenging a state law allowing undocumented students to receive in-state college tuition. |听
  
• Los Angeles community members have organized to create protective perimeters around the city鈥檚 campuses after immigration agents reportedly drew their guns on a student outside a high school. |听
  • The district announced new bus routes designed to improve student safety while commuting to school听during heightened immigration enforcement. |听

• The nonprofit Southwest Key, which for years has been the federal government鈥檚 largest provider of shelters for unaccompanied migrant children, has laid off thousands in Texas and Arizona after losing federal grants. The Trump administration dropped a lawsuit in March over allegations the nonprofit subjected migrant children to widespread sexual abuse. |听
  
• A Texas court blocked the state attorney general’s request to depose and question a nun who leads Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, one of the largest migrant aid groups in the region. |听

Microphone-equipped sensors installed in school bathrooms to crack down on student vaping could be hacked, researchers revealed, and turned into secret listening devices. |听

鈥楾hese are innocent children, sir鈥�:听New video of the delayed police response to the 2022 mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, shows the campus police chief attempting to negotiate with the gunman for more than 30 minutes. |听

Kansas schools have become the latest target in the Trump administration鈥檚 campaign against districts that permit transgender students to participate in school athletics. | 

• The Loudoun County, Virginia, school board has refused to comply with an Education Department order to end a policy allowing transgender students to use restroom facilities that match their gender identity. |听听
• The Education Department鈥檚 Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into allegations the Baltimore school district ignored antisemetic harassment by students and educators. |听

Lots of drills 鈥� little evidence: A congressionally mandated report finds that active shooter drills vary widely across the country 鈥� making it difficult to understand their effect on mental and emotional health. | 

A federal judge has blocked a new Arkansas law requiring that public schools display the Ten Commandments in all classrooms. It鈥檚 the second state Ten Commandments law to be halted this year. |  

ICYMI:听I did a deep-dive into the far-right Christian nationalists behind more than two dozen state Ten Commandments-in-schools bills nationally 鈥斕齟ach of which are inherently identical. |听

Is Texas up next?听Civil rights groups will ask a judge on Friday to prevent a similar law from going into effect. |听

ICYMI @The74

Emotional Support

Don鈥檛 sleep on this听听鈥斕齮he billion-dollar industry for hypoallergenic (and floofy!) designer pups.

An education technology company that built an app for Los Angeles students to receive telehealth services during the school day has fallen victim to a data breach that puts students鈥� sensitive information in jeopardy, a disclosure to state regulators reveals. 

The company, Kokomo Solutions, also hosts an anonymous tip line where Los Angeles community members can , safety threats and mental health crises to the school district鈥檚 police department. In filed with the California attorney general鈥檚 office, the company disclosed that an unspecified number of individuals鈥� personal information was compromised after an 鈥渦nauthorized third party鈥� accessed its computer network and the exposed files pertained to the Los Angeles Unified School District. 

The company, also known as Kokomo24/7, says it discovered the unauthorized access on Dec. 11, 2024, nearly eight months before it disclosed what happened to victims. The district has not issued any public statements alerting students and families that their sensitive information may have been compromised. 

Kokomo24/7, which has apparently scrubbed its website over the last few days of references to its work with the nation鈥檚 second-largest district, did not respond to requests for comment.

A Los Angeles Unified spokesperson said the company notified the school system on Dec. 12, 2024, “that an unauthorized user gained access to certain files containing personal information, stored on behalf of the District.” The spokesperson said the breach was not connected to LAUSD’s telehealth program or its student patients, but did not say whose information was exposed. They said it was Kokomo’s responsibility to handle disclosure to all affected parties and that, as far as L.A. school officials know, “there has been no evidence of personal information being shared as a result of the breach.”

While many details about the breach remain unknown, including the specific types of information that were compromised and whether it was the result of a cyberattack, the incident raises red flags because 鈥渢here鈥檚 no question that [Kokomo is] managing exceptionally sensitive information鈥� about campus safety issues and students鈥� medical information, school cybersecurity expert Doug Levin said. 

鈥淭his is another example of schools outsourcing the collection and management of exceptionally sensitive data on school communities which, if abused, could affect the health and safety of the school community,鈥� said Levin, the co-founder and national director of the K12 Security Information eXchange. 鈥淲e definitely would benefit from knowing more about how they were compromised and how they鈥檙e going to fix it.鈥�

District officials have touted the telehealth service to parents since the data breach was disclosed. In an Aug. 8 live video session over Facebook, a district student and community engagement specialist gave that laid out L.A.鈥檚 back-to-school offerings.

Parent advocate Evelyn Aleman, who facilitated the event, said she was pleased to learn about the telehealth service during the presentation. Parents grew accustomed to telehealth during the pandemic and the virtual service could benefit families who have been advocating for better health services in schools, she said. But she hadn鈥檛 heard about the data breach before being contacted by 社区黑料.

鈥淚 have a lot of questions: Was the person who was presenting to the group aware that [the breach] had happened?鈥� asked Aleman, who founded the group Our Voice to advocate for low-income and Spanish-speaking L.A. families. 鈥淎nd how deep was the breach? Obviously that would be of concern to the parents.鈥�

, the Los Angeles Schools Anonymous Reporting app allows students, parents and others in the community to report 鈥渟uspicious activity, mental health incidents, drug consumption, drug trafficking, vandalism and safety issues鈥� to the district鈥檚 . 

That same year, L.A. schools  鈥� along with the Children鈥檚 Hospital Los Angeles and Hazel Health 鈥� to launch new . The $800,000 program, funded by , is designed to provide app-based mental and physical health care to students, including at school. Hazel Health provides virtual mental health services, according to the district鈥檚 website, while Kokomo24/7鈥檚 services focus on physical health issues, including minor injuries, allergies and headaches. 

In , the district describes its Kokomo24/7-managed telehealth program as an option for students 鈥渢o access healthcare when not feeling well during school hours鈥� with the supervision of a school nurse 鈥渨hile remaining in school and focusing on learning.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Kokomo founder and CEO Daniel Lee lauding the company鈥檚 ability to 鈥渢ransform鈥� L.A. Unified鈥檚 COVID-tracking and health data system in a year after the school system鈥檚 previous tool became 鈥渃lunky, difficult to customize and expensive to maintain.鈥� The post notes the company鈥檚 role in creating the anonymous reporting application and the district鈥檚 Incident System Tracking Accountability Report, an internal tool to document injuries, medical emergencies and campus threats.

The Kokomo24/7 breach is the latest in a series of data privacy incidents affecting L.A. schools, including a high-profile ransomware attack in 2022 that led to the exposure of thousands of students鈥� mental health records. Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho at first categorically denied that students鈥� psychological evaluations had been exposed but then had to acknowledge that they were after 社区黑料鈥檚 investigation revealed the records鈥� existence on the dark web.

Meanwhile, the district鈥檚 rollout last year of a highly touted AI chatbot named 鈥淓d鈥� was derailed after AllHere, the ed tech company hired to develop the $6 million project, shuttered abruptly and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The company鈥檚 founder and CEO, Joanna Smith-Griffin, was then indicted on charges she defrauded investors of some $10 million. A company whistleblower told 社区黑料 AllHere鈥檚 student data security practices violated both industry standards and the district鈥檚 own policies. 

The L.A. district for the chatbot bid 鈥� including Kokomo24/7 鈥� before awarding the contract to AllHere. Both the bankruptcy and criminal cases are pending. In July, a school district spokesperson told 社区黑料 that Ed 鈥渞emains on hold.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The Kokomo24/7 website lists a wide suite of products, primarily in physical security including building access control systems, emergency alarms and visitor management tools. It also names large companies among its customers, including The Oscars 鈥� the company was the 鈥渉ealth and safety software provider鈥� 鈥� United Airlines鈥� subsidiary United Express and Fifth Third Bank. 

But the Illinois-based company has a relatively small footprint in the education sector, according to records in the GovSpend government procurement database. Among the handful of its school district clients is the Hartford, Connecticut, school system where educators spent more than $60,000 between 2020 and 2023 for licenses to to screen students鈥� temperatures, track infections and conduct contact tracing. Glendale Unified, a neighboring district to Los Angeles, is also listed as a client on the company鈥檚 website.

Kokomo24/7鈥檚 connections to the L.A. district were widely featured on the company鈥檚 website until this week. In fact, listed four foundational events, including the 2023 launch of the 鈥渁nonymous reporting app for students and an emergency alert system for staff鈥� for the L.A. district.

The reference to the school district was removed from the company timeline this week, as was a banner attributing a quote to Carvalho, a picture of district police officers and the district police department鈥檚 logo. Press releases announcing Kokomo鈥檚 work with the L.A. district appear to have also been scrubbed from the internet. 

The since-removed Carvalho quote called 鈥渃ritically important.鈥� Though slightly misstated, the remark comes from a March 2023 school board meeting where Carvalho boasted of people鈥檚 ability to 鈥渞elay in an anonymous way 鈥� or not 鈥� potential threats鈥� to a student or a school. 

The Los Angeles Schools Anonymous Reporting app hasn鈥檛 been universally praised, and last year filed by anti-surveillance activists who alleged the tool created 鈥渁 culture of mass suspicion鈥� and bolstered police interactions between students of color and those with disabilities. 

The Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, which filed the lawsuit seeking records about the app, students, parents and community members 鈥渢o surveil each other鈥� on behalf of school police and to file reports that don鈥檛 require evidence. It also questioned why the community was being encouraged to file reports on people in mental health crises as part of a broader effort to investigate 鈥渟uspicious activity.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥淭he app criminalizes mental health, perpetuating the idea that if someone has a mental illness they are inherently a threat to others,鈥� the activist .

As far-right political operative David Barton leads a Christian nationalist crusade, he鈥檚 traveled to state capitols across the country this year to support  in classrooms. 

My latest story digs into a well-coordinated and deep-pocketed campaign to inject Protestant Christianity into public schools that could carry broader implications for students鈥� First Amendment rights. Through a data analysis of  this year, I show how Barton鈥檚 role runs far deeper than just being their primary pitchman.

The analysis reveals how the language, structure and requirements of these bills nationwide are inherently identical. Time and again, state legislation took language verbatim from a Barton-led lobbying blitz to reshape the nation鈥檚 laws around claims 鈥� routinely debunked 鈥� about Christianity鈥檚 role in the country鈥檚 founding and its early public education system. 

Three new state laws in Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas mandating Ten Commandments posters in public schools are designed to challenge a 1980 Supreme Court ruling against such government-required displays in classrooms. GOP state lawmakers embracing these laws have expressed support for eradicating the separation of church and state 鈥� a pursuit critics fear will coerce students and take away their own religious freedom.

In the news

Updates to Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown: Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released from custody a 6-year-old boy with leukemia more than a month after he and his family were sent to a rural Texas detention center. | 

• As the Department of Homeland Security conducts what it calls wellness checks on unaccompanied minors, the young people who migrated to the U.S. without their parents 鈥渁re just terrified.鈥� |听
  
• 鈥業t looks barbaric鈥�: Video footage purportedly shows some two dozen children in federal immigration custody handcuffed and shackled in a Los Angeles parking garage. |听
  
• The Department of Homeland Security is investigating surveillance camera footage purportedly showing federal immigration officers urinating on the grounds of a Pico Rivera, California, high school in broad daylight. |听
  
• California sued the Trump administration after it withheld some $121 million in education funds for a program designed to help the children of migrant farmworkers catch up academically. |听
  
• Undocumented children will be banned from enrolling in federally funded Head Start preschools, the Trump administration announced. |听
  
  • Legal pushback:听Parents, Head Start providers challenge new rule barring undocumented families. |听

The executive director of Camp Mystic in Texas didn鈥檛 begin evacuations for more than an hour after he received a severe flood warning from the National Weather Service. The ensuing tragedy killed 27 counselors and campers. | 

The day after the Supreme Court allowed the Education Department’s dismantling, Secretary Linda McMahon went ahead with plans to move key programs. | 

• Now, with fewer staff, the Office for Civil Rights is pursuing a smaller caseload. During a three-month period between March and June, the agency dismissed 3,424 civil rights complaints. | 

Massachusetts legislation seeks to ban anyone under the age of 18 from working in the state鈥檚 seafood processing facilities after an investigation exposed the factories routinely employed migrant youth in unsafe conditions. | 

An end to a deadly trend: School shootings decreased 22% during the 2024-25 school year compared to a year earlier after reaching all-time highs for three years in a row. | 

Florida is the first state to require all high school student athletes to undergo electrocardiograms in a bid to detect heart conditions. | 

The Senate dropped rules from Trump鈥檚 鈥渂ig, beautiful鈥� tax-and-spending bill that would have prevented states from regulating artificial intelligence tools, including those used in schools. | 

• Food stamps are another matter: The federal SNAP program will be cut by about a fifth over the next decade, taking away at least some nutrition benefits from at least 800,000 low-income children. | 

ICYMI @The74

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鈥淭his is actually printed by the official printer of Congress,鈥� said Barton, a best-selling author and . Barton has spent the last 40 years arguing that the separation of church and state is a myth 鈥� and has built a multimillion-dollar media and lobbying operation to influence public opinion and shape laws around the belief that the United States was founded as .听

At in April, Barton appeared before the Texas House education committee and testified in favor of legislation, since signed into law, requiring that posters of the Ten Commandments be placed inside every classroom in the state鈥檚 nearly 9,100 public schools by September. With him, Barton brought a small collection of books he claims were foundational to the country鈥檚 public education system until the 20th Century.

Barton isn鈥檛 just a primary pitchman for the Ten Commandments law in Texas, his home state, an investigation by 社区黑料 reveals. His fingerprints appear on 28 bills that have cropped up before the legislatures in 18 states this year. A data analysis of the bills exposes how their language, structure and requirements are inherently identical. In dozens of instances, they match model legislation pitched by Barton verbatim. 

At the Texas hearing, Barton鈥檚 eyes fixated on the cover of the rare 1782 Aitken Bible. 

鈥淚t also says it鈥檚 鈥榓 neat Edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of schools,鈥欌�� he continued. 鈥淚t has the Ten Commandments.” 

In actuality, Barton lifted language calling on Congress to sanction a Bible that could also be for Christian nationalists have for years  the Revolutionary-era printing includes a government promotion of Christianity. Barton has long been accused of , and in 2012, the Christian publisher of his bestselling book on Thomas Jefferson because “basic truths just were not there.”

Texas is one of three states in the last two years to pass a law requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in public schools. The mandates are part of a coordinated nationwide effort to overturn forbidding Kentucky from requiring Ten Commandments displays in classrooms. 

As the influence of Barton and the burgeoning Christian nationalist movement find favor in state legislatures, and with 鈥� who cites Barton as a 鈥減rofound influence鈥� 鈥� the lobbyists and lawmakers behind the state Ten Commandments bills told 社区黑料 they鈥檙e confident the current Supreme Court鈥檚 conservative super-majority is on their side, too.

The analysis by 社区黑料 reveals how language in virtually every state bill matches model legislation created by Project Blitz, a Barton-steered Christian 鈥渂ill mill鈥� that鈥檚 long  with legislative templates that promote Christianity in public schools, and restrict abortion. 

A dozen bills specify, for example, that the Ten Commandments displays must be hung in a 鈥渃onspicuous鈥� location. Another 11 specify they should be at least 11-by-14 inches in size. Nearly all of the bills 鈥� 25 鈥� mandate a Christian version of the religious and ethical directives be displayed as a 鈥減oster or framed.鈥� 社区黑料 tallied 96 instances where bills introduced this year match Project Blitz鈥檚 model legislation, including template bills to require the or the phrase in public schools.

Among the architects of Project Blitz is the Barton-founded influence machine, The flurry of state bills were introduced after WallBuilders 鈥� the name is an Old Testament reference to 鈥�  convened its annual national conference of state legislators in November where the model legislation was promoted.  

After Louisiana passed its first-in-the-nation Ten Commandments law last year, new mandates approved in Arkansas and Texas this year follow the same Project Blitz template.

鈥楴o such thing as separation of God and government鈥�

Texas state Sen. Mayes Middleton is the joint author of  the state’s new Ten Commandments law and the author of another new law permitting a in public schools statewide. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed both in June. 

Middleton, whose district southeast of Houston includes his hometown of Galveston, acknowledged Barton’s influence over not just his own legislative agenda, but Texas’ broader conservative movement. Barton previously served as vice chair of the state Republican Party. 

鈥淥f course, WallBuilders is very supportive of the bill,鈥� Middleton told 社区黑料, as were the conservative legal groups and the . 鈥淎nd, of course, all of their missions is to advance religious liberties, especially in the public realm where there is no such thing as separation of God and government.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Founded by Barton in 1988, WallBuilders promotes theories 鈥� 鈥� about Christianity鈥檚 central role in the formation of the United States through its podcasts, books and a museum with 鈥渙ne of the largest private collections of United States historical documents.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Through WallBuilders鈥� lobbying arm, the Pro-Family Legislative Network, Barton leads and at its annual conferences at a four-star waterfront resort in suburban Dallas. It was at this gathering where Indiana Rep. J.D. Prescott, a Republican, got the idea for Ten Commandments legislation in his state, he told 社区黑料. 

Prescott   requiring a 鈥渄urable poster or framed picture鈥� of the commandments in each library and classroom at all public schools statewide. The legislation ultimately failed to garner support. Bills in other states also failed to gain traction, including in South Dakota where the bill鈥檚 critics 鈥� including some Republicans 鈥� said a government mandate was the wrong way to spread Christianity and ran afoul of the Constitution. 

鈥淥ur early common school system was really designed to teach biblical principles in the Bible, so it鈥檚 just getting back to that point,鈥� said Prescott, who described himself as a 鈥渟tudent of history.鈥�&苍产蝉辫; 

The Pro-Family Legislative conference offers lawmakers scholarships and discounted hotel rates to attend the event. In at least one instance,   filed a disclosure form reporting that he had received $859.47 from the Pro-Family Legislative Network, including $500 reimbursing him for air fare, to attend the November 2024 conference. 

Prescott told 社区黑料,  鈥淚 learned a lot of it at a WallBuilders conference hosted by David Barton. They鈥檝e got a great conference for legislators down in Texas every November. I did look at the WallBuilders model legislation and it鈥檚 a good place to start.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Not everyone鈥檚 Ten Commandments

Experts said the bills seek to do more than require 鈥渄urable鈥� Ten Commandments posters in every public school classroom. The campaign is part of a broader, well-organized and deep-pocketed assault, they argue, on the separation of church and state.

Although WallBuilders isn鈥檛 required to disclose its donors, the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy analyzed federal tax filings with the Internal Revenue Service to . In 2021, WallBuilders reported $5.9 million in revenue and $6.3 million in total assets. 

The group relies heavily on , a tax loophole that allows anonymous supporters to contribute to contentious causes without scrutiny.  For example, donor-advised funds have been exploited by far-right activists to of women and the LGBTQ+ community, according to a 2023 investigation by openDemocracy.

Mercury One, a nonprofit founded by high-profile conservative pundit and media personality Glenn Beck, is both and primary sponsor of Barton鈥檚 annual Pro-Family Legislative Conference to brief elected officials 鈥渙n pressing issues from a constitutional perspective.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Barton, who didn鈥檛 respond to multiple requests for comment, describes himself as a self-taught historian and the owner of the largest private collection of historical documents about the Founding Fathers. His critics pan the graduate of the Oral Roberts University as a discredited pseudohistorian and propagandist. 

Barton is 鈥渢he granddaddy of Christian nationalist disinformation,鈥� constitutional attorney Andrew Seidel, who serves as vice president of strategic communications at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told 社区黑料.

John Fea, an American history professor and history department chair at Messiah University, a private evangelical Christian institution in Pennsylvania, accused Barton of cherry-picking historical information to present a misleading portrayal of the past, one that bolsters his own present-day political agenda. 

鈥淭his is clearly an attempt by Christian nationalists to try to advance their own version of what America should be,鈥� Fea said, noting that even as historians challenge Barton, he鈥檚 amassed influence among Republican lawmakers interested in leveraging a distorted accounting of history for political gain. 

鈥淏arton provides that history for these lawmakers. It adds a certain depth, even though it鈥檚 hollow.鈥�

Darcy Hirsh, the senior director of government relations and advocacy at the nonprofit National Council for Jewish Women, said the Ten Commandments laws present an attack on 鈥渢he strict wall of separation鈥� between church and state. 

鈥淎ny efforts to perpetuate the falsehood that the United States is a Christian nation is something that we find deeply alarming,鈥� Hirsh said. Requiring a protestant Christian version of the Ten Commandments in schools, she said, is 鈥渆xclusionary and coercive鈥� to children from diverse backgrounds. 
鈥淎 Protestant interpretation of the Ten Commandments is different than the Jewish interpretation of the Ten Commandments, in fact, they are numbered differently,鈥� she said. Constitutional protections separating church and state, she said, are critical to the country鈥檚 democratic society.

鈥淚t’s that protection that has really allowed the Jewish community and other minority faith communities to flourish in the U.S.鈥�

The laws successfully passed in Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas now face lawsuits from parents alleging they violate the separation of church and state. The issue could soon appear again before the nation鈥檚 highest court. In June, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, among the nation鈥檚 most conservative, struck down Louisiana鈥檚 Ten Commandments display mandate, finding it 鈥減lainly unconstitutional.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Parents with diverse religious identities are being backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State in challenging the laws. In a complaint filed in Arkansas, parents allege students will be 鈥渦nconstitutionally coerced into religious observance鈥� and 鈥減ressured to suppress their personal religious beliefs.鈥�

Fea, the evangelical historian, told 社区黑料 the far-right campaign isn鈥檛 about the Ten Commandments鈥� place in the nation鈥檚 founding but about advancing the influence of Christianity in society. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e using this historical argument to disguise the fact that they believe that somehow 鈥� and I don鈥檛 know how this happens, by osmosis or whatever 鈥� a student sitting in a classroom where the Ten Commandments is displayed will somehow buy into those ideals and values and become more Christian,鈥� he said. 

鈥楾he hostility is gone鈥�

At the Texas House education committee hearing in April, Barton held up a second book. This one was much smaller than the first, but just as old and, Barton testified, just as significant.

Barton lectured the Republican-controlled state legislature on The New England Primer, a widely used . The book, he said, drilled first graders with 43 questions about the Ten Commandments. 

Then he introduced a third book, and a fourth. 

鈥淭he courts have pointed to the Ten Commandments as the reason we have all types of laws,鈥� Barton testified. 鈥淪o there鈥檚 a lot of history and tradition for that document that鈥檚 not there for other documents.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Barton鈥檚 prop-focused presentation isn鈥檛 just scripted 鈥� it鈥檚 well rehearsed. This year, the 71-year-old has traveled across the country with his books and a small team of collaborators to spread the gospel of Christian nationalism. Like the bills before the state legislatures, Barton鈥檚 speech was replicated again and again. 

As Barton testified on the Ten Commandment bills nationally, legislative sponsors routinely parroted his talking points, not just about Christianity鈥檚 role in the country鈥檚 origin, but the Supreme Court鈥檚 support for their movement.

During his recent appearances in Nebraska and other states, Barton鈥檚 testimonies invoked the court鈥檚 2022 opinion upholding the rights of a Washington state high school football coach to lead prayers with his team on the 50-yard line after games. 

Prescott, the Indiana lawmaker, said he became interested in introducing his bill after learning of the implications of the coach鈥檚 Supreme Court victory. 

To Barton and other members of his coalition, the court鈥檚 opinion in creates a clear path to require Ten Commandments in schools 鈥� and inject Christianity into other facets of public life 鈥� by proving they鈥檙e part of a longstanding traditional practice. 

In finding for Coach Kennedy, the Supreme Court its 1971 opinion ruling that religious displays don鈥檛 violate the Constitution if they have significant secular or nonreligious purposes. The court鈥檚 new standard revolves around whether the religious displays are part of historical practices. In other words, the heart of Barton鈥檚 pitch. 

鈥淭hat is the new standard, so the hostility is gone,鈥� he . 鈥淪howing that this is something that is longstanding practice, you go back to The New England Primer.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Bought and paid for 鈥� according to specs

Even as bill proponents championed states鈥� rights as one legal justification for their Ten Commandments display mandates, Middleton, the Texas legislative leader,  said there is a key benefit to the near-identical requirements in the bills across the 18 states. 

鈥淲e just wanted uniformity in these displays. We thought that was important,鈥� the oil company president and cattle rancher told 社区黑料. 鈥淥bviously, these are primarily going to be donated as well, so it鈥檚 probably going to be primarily private funds funding these.鈥�

Project Blitz model legislation devises a funding scheme that revolves around donated displays without the reliance on public funds 鈥� a provision that appears in 16 states鈥� bills. Others invoke the model legislation by encouraging donated displays, but broaden the mandate so schools are also free to spend taxpayer dollars to comply.

Mirroring the Project Blitz model legislation, the new Arkansas law requires the Ten Commandments display be composed of a 鈥渄urable poster or framed copy鈥� of the document and that it be 鈥減rominently鈥� positioned in each public classroom and library across the state. The law also stipulates that the posters should be donated by outside groups, meaning the same private entities who had a hand in crafting the specifications, supporting the bills and getting them on legislators’ radars, will also be the ones buying the versions of the Ten Commandments that wind up in schools.

Even as the Louisiana law is caught up in federal court, religious groups who lobbied for the law鈥檚 passage and have close ties to the WallBuilders have plans to donate the displays set to appear in classrooms across the state. 

In April, First Liberty Institute and The Louisiana Family Forum announced that Patriot Mobile, which describes itself as 鈥淎merica鈥檚 ONLY Christian conservative wireless provider,鈥� had donated 3,000 Ten Commandments displays 鈥渁s part of a project to provide, at no cost to the Louisiana taxpayer, displays in schools throughout Louisiana.鈥�

First grade was the year 鈥渁ll hell broke loose鈥� for Carter, a South Carolina teenager with multiple disabilities whose school career was marked by suspensions of every kind. In-school. Out-of-school. Forced to sit alone at lunch. Kicked off the school bus. 

In a powerful story and state-by-state data analysis this week, my colleague Amanda Geduld offers disturbing new insight into the degree to which children with disabilities are disproportionately subjected to school suspensions, sometimes for minor infractions. Disciplinary actions against children with disabilities aren鈥檛 just a matter of their behaviors, Amanda found. They鈥檙e also greatly affected by where the student lives. 

Amanda digs into the repeated school suspensions of Carter, which his mom said could have been avoided had the local schools provided adequate special education services that federal law demands. His case highlights a trend: No state suspends children with disabilities more often than South Carolina. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 just reflective of the state of public education of South Carolina as a whole,鈥� said Macaulay Morrison, the assistant director of a health and legal advocacy clinic at the University of South Carolina Law School. 鈥淪ometimes it鈥檚 easier for schools to exclude these students than it is for them to figure out how to support them.鈥�

Read Amanda鈥檚 story here, and see how the numbers stack up in your state.听

In the News

New on the First Amendment battlefield: A slim majority of American adults support teacher-led Christian prayers in public schools, according to a new Pew Research Center report released just days after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott authorized Bible readings in schools and required Ten Commandments displays in classrooms. The Texas laws are part of a broader conservative push to bolster religion in schools 鈥� with hopes of ultimately finding favor on the Supreme Court. On the same day Texas required the display of the Ten Commandments in schools, a federal appeals court struck down a similar law in Louisiana. | 社区黑料

Developments on Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown: Federal immigration agents arrested more than 30 people after conducting a raid at a south Alabama high school construction site. Officials said the operation 鈥渟ends a strong message to those who exploit illegal labor for profit.鈥� |

• In Florida, agents visited the offices of a state-funded children鈥檚 center in a search for their undocumented parents. |
• Detroit teenager Maykol Bogoya-Duarte has been deported to his home country of Colombia after he was detained by immigration officials during a routine traffic stop while driving to a school field trip. |
• In New York, residents confronted masked immigration agents lingering hundreds of feet from an elementary school. Agents got into a car crash as they attempted to flee. |
• The State Department will screen the social media profiles of student visa applicants for 鈥渁ny indications of hostility鈥� toward the U.S. |
• A former federal immigration officer in North Carolina was arrested on allegations he possessed images of child sexual abuse. |
• Student absences have surged by 22% this year in California鈥檚 Central Valley amid heightened immigration enforcement activity in the agricultural region, a new study found. |

The Loudoun County, Virginia, school district announced plans to install on its campuses artificial intelligence-powered surveillance cameras designed to identify weapons, fights and medical emergencies. |

A critic鈥檚 take on Pride Month: Libraries have become 鈥渃enters for queer resistance鈥� in the fight against censorship. A new investigation takes aim at LGBTQ+-affirming books which, according to the author, glamorize 鈥渕edicalized sex changes as brave and heroic.鈥� |

• The Trump administration has gutted a specialized suicide prevention line for LGBTQ+ youth, who are far more likely than their straight peers to die by suicide. |
• In a major civil rights setback, the Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors. |
• The Education Department announced the California Interscholastic Federation violated the civil rights of female students by allowing transgender athletes to compete on school sports teams that align with their gender identity. |

The Senate education committee voted Thursday to approve Trump nominees Penny Schwinn as the Education Department鈥檚 second in command and Kimberly Richey to lead the agency鈥檚 civil rights office. Both were advanced to the full Senate on 12-11 votes along party lines. | 社区黑料

A federal judge has awarded more than $900,000 to a former Pennsylvania middle school teacher who was fired for attending the 鈥淪top the Steal鈥� insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. |

The Senate parliamentarian will allow a provision to ban state regulation of artificial intelligence for a decade, including rules around its use in schools, to remain in President Donald Trump鈥檚 sweeping spending bill. |

A bulletin from the National Terrorism Advisory System has warned of a 鈥渉eightened threat environment鈥� for cyberattacks after the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites. In an unrelated cybersecurity advisory last year, the federal government cited the potential threat of Iran-based hackers carrying out cyberattacks on U.S. 鈥渆ducation, finance, healthcare and defense sectors.鈥� | ,

A massive settlement, behind closed doors: The school board in Los Angeles has quietly agreed to issue $500 million in bonds to settle hundreds of decades-old sexual abuse cases involving former students. |

ICYMI @The74

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Look. At. This. Chunk. 

No really, this dog鈥檚 name is Chunk! This pup is 74 editor Kathy Moore鈥檚 11-week-old Corgi pup nephew, and we get it. He鈥檚 unbearably cute. Try not to make a scene.