CMSD weighs $603K Flock contract renewal
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CMSD headquarters on Superior Avenue downtown. Photo: Sam Allard/Axios
The Cleveland Metropolitan School District will vote later this month on a $603,000 contract renewal with Flock Safety, potentially extending its controversial license plate surveillance program for another year.
Why it matters: CMSD operates about 200 automatic license plate readers at 62 schools, which has drawn mounting scrutiny from parents, teachers and community activists.
Driving the news: District safety officials told a school board working group Tuesday that Flock's cameras are essential tools for investigating break-ins, car thefts and other crimes on school property.
State of play: An internal audit commissioned by the school board found no significant deficiencies in the district's surveillance safeguards and confirmed that nationwide access to its network had been disabled.
Yes, but: The nationwide access restriction came later than CMSD previously acknowledged.
- In June, the district incorrectly told Signal Cleveland that only CMSD security personnel and Cleveland police could access its data.
- In fact, more than 500 outside agencies had access, conducting more than 130,000 searches in June alone, according to the district's presentation Tuesday.
- CMSD did not revoke outside access until July 6, Signal Cleveland reports.
Since then, there have been zero searches by other Ohio or out-of-state agencies, and no "federal or immigration-enforcement terms" in any of the 16,000+ searches, the audit found.
The other side: "Even if we believed this technology to be a cost-effective deterrent to car break-ins," Bryn Adams of the Flock No Cle campaign tells Axios, "why would we trust people who have repeatedly made false and/or misleading claims about how the system works, where the cameras are placed, who owns the hardware, and who has access to the data to be responsible stewards of this extremely powerful and invasive AI surveillance tool?"
Between the lines: CMSD considered the cost of replacing its Flock ALPRs with CCTV cameras, per the board presentation.
- The total up-front cost would be roughly $350,000 and include no ongoing subscription, but does not automatically read license plates "or send the stolen vehicle, AMBER, and warrant alerts Flock provides."
What's next: The school board is expected to vote Oct. 27.