(RepublicanInformer.com)- Utah parents in the Davis School District are alarmed after the DOJ collected their children’s racial and ethnic data.
The Civil Rights Division began investigating the district for racial discrimination in July 2019. The October 2021 deal includes releasing students’, instructors’, and administrators’ racial and ethnic makeup. Per the agreement, the district delivered student data on July 1.
Parents in the Davis School District felt misled by the settlement agreement’s invasive character, which mandated a “master list of all kids” with each student’s name, ID, race/ethnicity, grade, and school.
Utah Parents United’s (UPU) Corrine Johnson said it’s a DOJ overreach.
She said she recognizes racism exists, happens, and happens in Utah but sees no need to gather demographic data on a whole school district, especially racial data.
The DOJ was brought in to build an inclusive atmosphere, and data mining children have no place there. By gathering race data, she assumes they are profiling pupils. Profiling leads to increased prejudice, in UPU’s opinion.
Another parent recently moved from Alaska while the DOJ’s probe was approaching completion. She told Fox News she’s worried about DOJ data. She said the DOJ’s latest data leak harmed thousands of California gun owners.
“You leave a child’s data unprotected,” she remarked. “All students’ info is retrieved. This isn’t limited to people who’ve reported racism or prejudice.” “I don’t understand,” the mother said.
Another mom said children are paying for the school district’s “serious lack of leadership” and “severe lack of openness.”
“It protects them from admitting faults,” she said.
The DOJ discovered discriminatory accusations. Non-Black pupils allegedly called Black kids the “n-word,” “monkeys or apes,” and made monkey noises. The study found “pervasive” and “offensive” racial harassment in schools because the district was “deliberately oblivious” to it.
The unknown is how long data will be kept. 34 CFR 99.35 requires the government to store and delete this data. DOJ hasn’t notified the District when they’d destroy student data.
The government has collected pupils’ ethnicity and race for years. Federal law compels states to disclose the number of these pupils in each school. These reports track student enrolment and other information, such as graduation rates, to ensure all students get educational programs and services.”
“This DOJ example relates to the larger concern that parents have with their children’s information being utilized without consent and in ways they don’t feel satisfies a local education need,” Johnson said.
Big Brother is real.
