UPDATE - HB268
Massive Student Surveillance System
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
HB268 bill will be voted on within the next 24-48 hours.
Please contact your Senator, Representative, and the Speaker of the House, Jon Burns, and urge them to vote NO on this destructive bill.
Find your legislator here: https://pluralpolicy.com/open/
The legislators made two changes to the bill. They removed the GEMA 3S database system, but the GDAC database can share data across Georgia agencies. The second change was to remove the establishment of a Threat Management Team. However, there is still a Threat Management Plan in the bill. There has to be a team to manage this plan.
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- The entire system is built on anonymous tips, which can come from federal agencies, state agencies, local law enforcement, and the public. A five-year-old can call in a threat.
- There is no age limit for Tipsters.
- There is no verification process.
- Once an anonymous tip is made, it becomes an official record.
- Data is shared across all government agencies underneath the GA Executive Office through GDAC, Georgia Data Analytical Center.
- False or retaliatory tips could result in the investigation of a student, the removal of the student from the school to virtual learning at home, mandatory psychological assessments, and mental health referrals.
- Excessive criminalization and stigmatization of normal youthful misbehaviors could have lasting legal and psychological consequences for minors.
- There are many possible conflicts of interest. The same actors who surveil, assess, judge, and punish students are the ones who claim to be supporting them.
- Loss of parental rights.
- This opens the door to profiling, surveillance, and targeting, especially for students with IEPs, 504 plans, trauma histories, or from marginalized communities.
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- Criminalizes student and parent speech.
- Threats, even if not acted upon, can be treated as felonies.
- Guilty until proven innocent.
- Families are also investigated. The scope of these investigations is unlimited: families, associates, churches, and even your job.
- This could affect a parent or family member's livelihood or quality of life.
- There is no process to remove education/behavioral records from the database, even if a child is wrongly accused. The records will follow the child into adulthood and can affect their application to college, work, or even the military.
- Legal Custody of your child could be given to DFCs, the Department of Family and Child Services, DJJ, the Department of Juvenile Justice, or the Department of Behavioral Health. You can be fined for refusing to cooperate by not releasing behavioral/education records or agreeing to mandatory psychological assessments.
- We encourage you to understand the difference between a Legal Guardian and a Legal Custodian.
- This bill also extends into homeschooling and private schools. No one is exempt from an anonymous tip and the process that follows.
- We spoke to an attorney with Appleseed Law and Justice, and she told us that only 1% of threats are credible and serious. Why are we including all students in a system that will traumatize them for life?
- Each agency is the "sole custodian" of the data they submit and can deny public access under Code Section 50-18-72.
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Call Today! Protect your family and yourself.
HB268 violates the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution
| | Truth in Education is in the fight to keep parents informed on these crucial issues that affect parent's rights and to protect students. | | “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be.” 1 Peter 5:2 | | |
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