Huntsville schools paid to monitor students online


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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Records show Huntsville city schools paid a former FBI agent to oversee security measures that included monitoring students' social media accounts.

Al.com reports (http://bit.ly/1yNAH4q ) documents it obtained from an open records request show 14 students were expelled in the last school as a result of security consultants watching their social media accounts. Madison County Commissioner Bob Harrison said he's concerned that 12 of those expelled students were black.

Records showed former FBI agent Chris McRae was paid $157,190 in the last fiscal year to run a program called Students Against Fear. Superintendent Casey Wardynski said security personnel investigated social media accounts of 600 out of 24,000 Huntsville students since January.

School board member Laurie McCaulley said students were expelled only for serious offenses, like those involving weapons or drugs.

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