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Dear John,
Imagine being labeled a criminal because you’ve survived abuse or received a “D” in school.
Several middle and high schools in Pasco County Florida are working with the Pasco Sheriff’s office to do just that. They’ve created a list of schoolchildren they believe might “fall into a life of crime” based on highly sensitive private information, including family history, records of past abuse, and grades.1
What’s worse, Black students and those with disabilities are 2x more likely to be targeted and placed on this list.2
John, no child should be labeled a “criminal” — this dangerous, racist practice must end. That’s why we’re calling on the Pasco School Board and Superintendent Kurt Browning to intervene NOW.
On several occasions, Superintendent Browning has gone on record touting his positive relationship with the Pasco County Sheriff’s office and the need for police presence in schools. But when it comes to defending children against harassment and targeting by the police, Browning has remained silent, claiming that he is unaware of the Sheriff's Office's use of school data to identify kids who “might become criminals.”3
Members of the Pasco school board have also denied responsibility for these dangerous data-sharing practices that label schoolchildren as young as 11 years old as “criminals,” forcing them into the criminal justice system.
John, labeling schoolchildren who need care and support “criminals” is shocking. But the fact is, the police already run rampant in Pasco County schools -- and Black kids are the first to be targeted.
Here are our demands:
1. Release demographic data for the student populations represented on this list with a comparison to the county-wide demographic data. Specifically, we demand to know the percentage of Black students, Latinx students, and disabled students represented on this list.
2. The Sheriff's office must notify all families whose child has already been added to the list.
3. Shift budget priorities to support teachers and staff. Trained professionals who are overworked, underpaid, and under-resourced can provide academic and mental health interventions should have the needed resources to help kids instead of relying on untrained sheriff's deputies.
Until justice is real,
--Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Erika, Malachi, Megan, Ernie, Madison, Ariel, Trevor, Ericka, Ana, McKayla, and the rest of the Color Of Change team
References:
- Pasco’s sheriff uses grades and abuse histories to label schoolchildren potential criminals. The kids and their parents don’t know.Tampa Bay Times. "https://act.colorofchange.org/go/284915?t=5&akid=48408%2E4731121%2ECFadqq
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
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