Dawn was still hours away when Angel Cholka was awakened by the beams of a police flashlight through the window. At the door was an officer, who asked if someone named Madi lived there. He said he needed to check on her. Ms. Cholka ran to her 16-year-old’s bedroom, confused and, suddenly, terrified.
Ms. Cholka did not know that A.I.-powered software operated by the local school district in Neosho, Mo., had been tracking what Madi was typing on her school-issued Chromebook.
While her family slept, Madi had texted a friend that she planned to overdose on her anxiety medication. That information shot to the school’s head counselor, who sent it to the police. When Ms. Cholka and the officer reached Madi, she had already taken about 15 pills. They pulled her out of bed and rushed her to the hospital.
Thousands of miles away, at around midnight, a mother and father in Fairfield County, Conn., received a call on their landline and were unable to reach it in time to answer. Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang. Three officers were on the stoop asking to see their 17-year-old daughter, who had been flagged by monitoring software as at urgent risk for self-harm.
The girl’s parents woke her and brought her downstairs so the police could quiz her on something she had typed on her school laptop. It took only a few minutes to conclude that it was a false alarm — the language was from a poem she wrote years earlier — but the visit left the girl profoundly shaken.
“It was one of the worst experiences of her life,” said the girl’s mother, who requested anonymity to discuss an experience “traumatizing” to her daughter.
From the conversationaakamaiNew YorkWhy do armed police show up? Obviously (?), these children are not using guns. How about a team of social workers?
Ellen BarryReporter@akamai I think the reason is that police have capacity to do emergency well-child checks outside of school hours.School counselors are of course the obvious answer, but they do not work 24-7. And ideally, if the school could reach parents by phone, there would be no need to deploy anyone to private homes.
BBLIllinoisSpying on young people does nothing to curtail the root catalysts for teen suicide. In fact, it may very likely exacerbate the core problems.How do you think it makes a 15 year old feel knowing they are being constantly watched and judged for every word they use?
Ellen BarryReporter@BL I heard a range of answers to this during my reporting. In Lawrence, Kansas, student journalists made the argument you lay out: That this kind of surveillance erodes the trust between students and teachers and administrators. But in Neosho, most students I approached (not all) said it seemed normal for the school to oversee internet use on a school device. And several said it was comforting to know the counselors were looking out for kids who might be in trouble.
AshVirginiaThe intent of this using software to help intercede in helping students who are truly in need of help is laudable. One concern I would have besides the false positives is that there is the potential of schools and these for profit companies keeping permanent records of those students who were flagged. Information such as this could follow these students for years that could have huge implications in their life.
Ellen BarryReporter@Ash Good question. This precise issue was raised by Sens Warren and Markey in 2021, and the companies responded -- I'll link the responses below.Generally they said they only use personal records to contact emergency contacts (school or law enforcement) if the student is in danger. They use de-identified data to develop their products & they they don't sell student data.https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-markey-warren-investigation-finds-that-edtech-student-surveillance-platforms-need-urgent-federal-action-to-protect-students
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