Why did Huntsville City Schools pay a former FBI agent to spy on black students? Because they could?

  #hsvboe members Elisa Ferrell and Walker McGinnis, Laurie McCaulley, Superintendent Casey Wardynksi

Alabama media group state enterprise reporter Challen Stephens investigative reporting of the Huntsville City Schools SAFe program garnered national attention.  Although they were tardy to the party, the story was eventually picked up by mainstream blogs,  print media, and television. Oh the shame of it all!

So how does Huntsville City Schools respond?  The newly installed President of the board, who didn't know nothing before she knew something, announces they cutting the security consultant services from the budget and will operate the program internally with the district's security team headed by Al Lankford, the system's chief security officer.   Nod Nod Wink Wink

Uh, how do you cut services from the budget that were never in the budget?  And is this the same district security team whose budget was just slashed and work force reduced?  Is this the same chief security officer who thought he was talking to the NSA (National Security Agency)?  Oh, OK

Now, let's separate fact from spin.

HCS is NOT ending the program.

They have NOT answered any questions about the origins of the program.

We still do not know who authorized the expenditure $157,190 for Mr. McRae.

We still do not know exactly how the $2,295,608.00 that we've paid T&W Operations since 2013 has been spent since only about half of that was approved by the board.

They are attempting to sweep this under the rug in the hopes that the public will forget.

 A better question, perhaps, is whether Alabama — land of the fiscal conservatives — should be spending $110 an hour looking for kids bragging about their pot-smoking exploits online. At the very least, they should've funneled a little more cash into designing that logo.

We must laugh to keep from crying.

This young man better be glad he is not a student enrolled in Huntsville City Schools #SpyGate

.@Keith_Dailey @Kroger  I've been a customer for 27 years. You'd rather have this guy? #GroceriesNotGuns #MomsDemand pic.twitter.com/NeNqggPDbS
— Cornelia (@PaladinCornelia) October 10, 2014

#SpyGate "Casey Wardynski totally believes NSA contacted HCS" ... because Al Langford

HCS Security Chief Al Langford (L) HCS Superintendent Casey Wardynski R)

Question:  Why would an "unidentified person from the National Security Agency" call Al Langford to warn of the "potential of a violent threat"?  Did he fall for a prank?   I'm just asking....

Imagine this scenario: Cue in music from Get Smart


Al Langford , Huntsville's longtime security officer, sitting at his desk doing long time security and the phone rings:

Ring! Ring!

AL Picks up the phone and says:  Hello, this is Al Langford, longtime security officer for Huntsville City Schools.

Mr. AL Langford, this is agent 00something from the NSA in Washington D.C. Look at your caller ID for verification. (snicker)

AL:  Hey, how are things at NASA?

Agent 00something:  Not N-A-S=A.....N-S-A as in the National Security Agency.

Al sits up straighter in his seat and says  Oh!  Yes Sir!  How... what can I do for you?

Agent 00something:  *Ahem*, well we've been *ahem* monitoring the Facebook accounts in your area and I'm calling to warn you of the potential of a violent threat against a teacher by a  student with a *ahem* foreign connection.  Your mission, if you decide to accept, is to notify your Superiors and commence rounding up the potential threats ASAP.

Al stands up, salutes and says:   Yes Sir, I will get on this right away!  Good bye Um ... Your excellencies or  sirs, or brothers, people ... um ... !

Langford hangs up the phone, sprints down the hall of the Merts Center, notifies his superiors of the phone call and Viola'!.....  Operation #SpyGate is born! 

 The schools started tapping into students’ Facebook and social media postings to check for photos of guns and gang signs, threats of violence and anything else that could give clues of looming acts of violence, the Daily Mail reported. They conducted the surveillance as part of a program called Students Against Fear, or SAFe,Mr. Wardynski insists the NSA got involved because there was a “foreign connection” — that a student in Huntsville who was found to have made threats had previously engaged in an online chat with an individual in Yemen.

Um...about that student in Huntsville who was found to have made potential threats...

 Auseel Yousefi says he did it. He sent the tweets that school officials say led to a warning from the NSA which led Huntsville to begin monitoring student Facebook pages.
But he says it was all a joke, a bad one -- a stand-up routine that would cost him the first semester of his senior year at Lee High School.
On the day he got in trouble, Yousefi says, he was taken into a room full of administrators and shown emailed photos of a series of jokes on his Twitter feed. He says the administrators alternately referred to reports of threats forwarded by "the NSA" or an "NSA affiliate."  
"It meant absolutely nothing to me at the time," he said of the  National Security Agency, the U.S. government's global spy network. Instead, Yousefi was focused on defending the humor in those tweets. Then school security searched his car. They found a jeweled dagger from a Renaissance fair in the glove box. Yousefi would be expelled for one semester.
Superintendent Casey Wardynski has said the NSA contacted the system because of the foreign connection. Yousefi, now a student at Birmingham-Southern, said he was born and raised in Alabama, but his parents were from Yemen.

So Operation #SpyGate was created because of some tweeting gone bad by a student whose parents are from (not to be confused with IN) Yemen?

It was his last day of junior year at Lee High School. Yousefi said he woke up early and decided: "How funny would it be if I tweeted last day of school jokes?"
He announced a list of what he would do that day. He sent four or five tweets.
"In retrospect, it was a very dumb thing to do."
The first was the most problematic. Yousefi said he wrote" "I'm going to chop (his biology teacher) in the throat." To his mind, it was harmless. It was an inside joke, he said, as the female teacher had used similar language to get the class to be quiet. The students thought it was funny.
Yousefi was her student aide. He called her "adorable."
The second was the one he regrets most. But it contained nothing that could be misconstrued as a violent threat. He tweeted something about a female administrator's "balls of steel." He said that tweet made him feel the most awkward when confronted later.
Third, he tweeted he would sweet talk an attractive young teacher and get a kiss. "Total joke. She's 24. It's never going to happen," he said.
Next, he tweeted: "I'm going to get in a fight today." This joke, he said, was funny if you knew him. Later he would try use his own tweets espousing pacifism to explain the irony. It didn't work.
"This is 6 in the morning in my bed. I didn't think about it afterwards."

Remember that time Huntsville High Students posted pictures of their Senior Prank and their reaction on the Web?  

The Huntsville High School students have had their punishment handed down. As we dig deeper into this story, WAFF 48 News wanted to tell you about some of the things we found on the web about the prank.
Many of the messages on message boards, including the one on WAFF.com , seem to be in support of what these teens did.
We found comment after comment in support of these Huntsville High teens. And we found pictures of the man in the halls of Huntsville High.
Photos were posted on the www.facebook.com by 19-year-old Huntsville High student, Charles Bendall.
It shows a man in a hallway partially dressed. The title reads: Huntsville Hobo Fans with a description that says: "This is for all who thought our senior prank was hilarious, and that think it's bull**** that they are making such a big deal over it."
Other pictures show a homeless man, with Charles Bendall and Travis Bridges.

And what punishment was handed down for these students you ask?

According to school officials, the students were apprehended soon after the event. They have been prohibited from Senior Activities and may, yes may, face community service hours.

WHAT?! They dehumanized a homeless man. They shred his dignity. They took advantage of his situation. They put him in harm as an intruder in the school that could be dealt with by force by the police. Why are there no criminal charges? Surely, the D.A. could charge them with abuse or criminal negligence or criminal mischief. Was it because the students are trying to be naive in the fact that it was a "harmless" prank? I don't know, but if there was ever a need for a "trading places" experiment- it's with these young adults.

Big difference from the punishment some students faced for allegedly posting pictures of themselves on social media with sub machine guns and fists full of $100.00 bills.

Wardynski said the city used the SAFe program to break up a gang called the Wolfpack, with six or seven members -- all related to each other through family -- in various schools. The students were expelled and placed in alternative school and boot camp programs.
Wardynski said Huntsville schools have seen sporadic gang recruitment and what he called "wannabe" gangs. "We don't want them to get into the major league," he said.
Acting on tips from students or teachers or others, schools security staff scour numerous social media sites, including Facebook, twitter, instagram, pinterest, and more. They look for evidence of imminent threats to the schools or of gang activity. Wardysnki said the program has led to about a dozen expulsions each year so far and that security is actively monitoring social media at all times.

So let me see if I have this right (pun intended), post the potential of an imminent threat on Facebook you get expulsion.  Post a picture of a naked homeless man, you get banned from Senior activities, community service, and you get to go on with your life.  Oh, OK.

Don't get me wrong,  I am glad this little "youthful indiscretion" didn't ruin the Huntsville High School students lives, or destroy their future. I think the punishment they received was appropriate, compassionate, and fair.  Hopefully they learned a valuable life lesson and went on to become productive citizens. The victims of #SpyGate, not so much.

 But consider those kids who weren't so "lucky" and because they posted pictures of themselves as wannabe toughs with guns ended up at the Pinnacle Boot Camp (aka the teepees aka therapeutic wilderness camp aka private prison) with no contact with the outside world, no lawyer, and no release date, or at Pinnacle's Huntsville campus where one of the guards was indicted (and I presume is still awaiting trial) for torturing students.

The motto of Huntsville City Schools  used to be Education is the Hope of the Republic, with the dismantling of the Fletcher Seldon Center and other radical changes, this motto is no longer true for black/brown/poor/special education students because this superintendent,  enabled by this school board, is systematically destroying any hope for the future of our republic, choosing to fuel the cradle to prison pipeline instead.

Operation #SpyGate recap:
 HCS school superintendent Casey Wardynski decided it was within his power to set up a super secret  surveillance program of some students' social media accounts , based on an alleged call from an unidentified caller who said they were from the NSA, placed to longtime Huntsville City Schools  security officer Al Langford.

Oh, OK.

RedEye Roll

#hsvboe...Anything "some students" say on Social Media can, and will be, used against them

Seal of the National Security Agency

I have a ritual to help me decide the topic of my daily blog post.  First, I log on to my blog and scroll down the blog roll.  Then I log on to Facebook, followed by Twitter,  and lastly,  Al.com.

What I saw posted in the Alabama Today section about HCS Superintendent Casey WARdynski   made my Eyes get bigger,  the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and had me pacing the floor muttering expletives. 

A secret program to monitor students' online activities began quietly in Huntsville schools, following a phone call from the NSA, school officials say.
Huntsville schools Superintendent Casey Wardynski says the system began monitoring social media sites 18 months ago, after the National Security Agency tipped the school district to a student making violent threats on Facebook.

There are so many things wrong here I don't know where to start, so I guess I will start by saying Freedom isn't Free.

Since the inception of the Patriot Act and the revelations of warrant less surveillance, I've long held Big Brother  is watching every move we make, but like a good citizen I adopted the if you aren't doing anything wrong you don't have anything to worry about meme.  To my knowledge, expressing opinions via social media, blogs or forums is not against the law.  I falsely assumed we had this little thingy called freedom of speech in the United States of America, and anything we said in these forums couldn't/wouldn't be used against us.   Wrong.

Regardless of how the program started, Huntsville City Schools began scanning Facebook and other sites for signs of gang activity, watching for photos of guns, photos of gang signs and threats of violence.

This superintendent is consumed with the idea of gangs and considers himself an expert.

The four students from Lee High School who filmed a fight in a school bathroom and posted the video to YouTube did so as a gang initiation, Huntsville's superintendent said.
Dr. Casey Wardynski said the fight, which came to light Jan. 20 after the video went viral, wasn't an ordinary skirmish between students. 

"It was a gang initiation; these students went to lunch together afterward," Wardynski said.

 The superintendent said there is zero tolerance in the district for gang activity.

"There will be no gangs in our schools," Wardynski said.

Gang is the new Black 
When asked at a community meeting why students in north Huntsville are required to wear school uniforms,  in a rare moment of candor the superintendent said that was the only way school administrators could tell the gang members from students.

Here's the school district's explanation of how the program got started:
About a year and half ago, Wardynski said, the NSA called Huntsville and reported a high school student had threatened on Facebook to injure a teacher.
Al Lankford, the city's longtime school security officer, told AL.com that he took the NSA phone call. He said security officers went to the high school and eventually searched the boy's car.

Huntsville City Schools

"We found a very good size knife and the student was expelled," said Wardynski, a former U.S. Army colonel appointed as superintendent in Huntsville in 2011.

Big Brother isn't coming, he's already here.
Why was the NSA watching what this student posted on facebook?  The above article says the knife was found in his car but that's not what the initial news reports said.

 A Huntsville City Schools spokesperson said security workers found a knife and gun in a student’s possession Monday at Butler High School.
Additional search procedures were implemented, and no other prohibited items were found.  The male student was charged with two Class III violations of the Huntsville City Schools Student Code of Conduct.

So which one is it, was the knife found in his car (perfectly legal), or in his possession?

The NSA is focused on foreign intelligence. Vines said any information about a domestic safety issue would be sent to another federal agency, like the FBI. "Moreover, NSA does not make recommendations regarding school safety programs," said Vines via email.

"There was a foreign connection," said Wardynski, explaining why the NSA would contact Huntsville schools. He said the student in Huntsville had made the online threats while chatting online with a group that included an individual in Yemen.

There is just one little problem with this scenario...the NSA denies they contacted Huntsville City Schools .

NSA did not acknowledge placing such a call. "The National Security Agency has no record that it passed any information to the Huntsville school district, and the description of what supposedly occurred is inconsistent with NSA's practices," said Vanee Vines, public affairs specialist with the NSA, on Monday.
The NSA is focused on foreign intelligence. Vines said any information about a domestic safety issue would be sent to another federal agency, like the FBI. "Moreover, NSA does not make recommendations regarding school safety programs," said Vines via email.

So who are you going to believe Casey Wardynski, or the NSA?  I'll take the NSA for 100 Alex.

 Board members Topper Birney and Laurie McCaulley, contacted for this story last week, said they were unaware of the monitoring program and the board was not briefed. The city system web site contains no operational information on SAFe, but displays a logo and lists three staff members. Those include two security officers and consultant Chris McRae.

What did BOE members know and when did they know it?
I can understand the weakest links Birney and McCaulley) not having a clue about this program, but what about David Blair, Dr. Jeannie Robinson, and Mike Culbreath?  Did they know?  Did they authorize the hiring of a full time staff to do nothing but investigate what students and other private citizens do online ?

There is disagreement on the Huntsville school board about whether or not Superintendent Casey Wardynski informed board members that the district had begun secretly monitoring student activity on social media.

Psst! The key word here is SECRETLY.  If you tell people what's going on it's not a secret.

Both Blair and McCaulley voiced concerns about the information provided to AL.com and the subsequent media attention the program is receiving.
Blair said students intending to do harm at school might be less likely to put information about their intentions online if they know the district is watching.
"This kind of stuff puts kids in danger," Blair said.
McCaulley said that whoever leaked the security presentation to the media may have broken Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) laws because the presentation included pictures of students.
She said, however, that the program itself has worked by letting the district know about students who may have been planning something dangerous on campus. The documents obtained by AL.com showed pictures of four different students posing on Facebook with handguns.
Three of those students were subsequently expelled and the fourth was referred for counseling.  
"This is a program that works to save kids," McCaulley said

Preemptive Strike!
Are they out of their cotton picking minds?  Do they honestly believe this program has saved kids?  Saved them from whom?  Saved them from what?  Expelling students who may (or may not) have been planning something dangerous and referring the counseling isn't helping them, or anybody else.   And why weren't parents notified of any potential threats of violence?

Although this information is just hitting the fan, it's not new.  CaseyWardynski is doing the job he was hired to do. 

Casey you have to break the mold and prove you're not afraid of minorities, democrats, liberals, aclu (sic) types and the entire entitlement crowd! Do that, and you'll be doing the job you were hired to do! Oh yeah, not to mention striking down all racial transfers. And that includes allowing not allowing whites to racially transfer either. If you don't like where your child goes to school, move to where they can be zoned into a school of your preference, that's what I had to do!

The Alabama ACLU asked Huntsville City Schools about their social media policy  three months ago.

The American Civil Liberties Union wants to know if Huntsville City Schools is snooping on students.
The group published an open letter (PDF) to Superintendent Dr. Casey Wardynski Tuesday, which includes a public records request for information on any disciplinary actions taken against students based on their social media activities.
The ACLU said other schools around the country are punishing students for comments made on social media critical of schools, even if the comments are made after school hours on private property.
There is no indication of any specific complaints against Huntsville City Schools at the present time.
Tuesday afternoon, WAFF also mailed a public records request for the same information. We will keep you updated on how the district responds.

The letter said the program can constitute a students right to privacy and freedom of expression online.  It also said suspensions and expulsions are often meted out in a disproportionate manner that negatively impacts student of color.  Look at the pictures presented in the article and you will see this to be true.

It ought to be against the law to lie to taxpayers

Someone is lying about the origins of a secret student social media monitoring program started by the Huntsville City Schools and "needs to lose his job," a national First Amendment expert said today.
"Lying to the public should be a firing offense," according to Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center in Washington.

Lying to the public is par for the course in Huntsville City Schools, and if that doesn't work, blame it on the black guy.

There's a third possibility, U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) said today. "The school system is telling the truth as they understand it," but the call "could have been anybody, misrepresenting their status."
"If there is proof that the NSA actually made the phone call," Brooks said, "it would behoove the Congress to ascertain whether the NSA has a program consistent with that phone call."
To start an inquiry, Brooks said he'd need the name of the person who called and that person's phone number, "If he's keeping good records, he should have that phone number and that name," Brooks said of schools' security officer Al Lankford.

 Why the Pinnacle Hypocrisy matters:

Wardynski said the city used the SAFe program to break up a gang called the Wolfpack, with six or seven members -- all related to each other through family -- in various schools. The students were expelled and placed in alternative school and boot camp programs.
"People are very good about 'If you see something, say something,'" said Wardynski.
Wardysnki said the monitoring program is limited to threats against schools, and students are expelled from neighborhood schools and placed into alternative programs. Asked if school officials are also searching online for photos of alcohol, drugs and sex, Wardynski said: "None of that."

One of the many, many, things wrong with the Pinnacle Policy is the denial of students right to equal protection under the  law and due process.  I turn the floor over to The Mertz Center Monitor.

To be continued.....

All Politics is Local

What if the Security Officer forces parent to stop recording Huntsville board meeting issue is being used as a media enabled weapon of mass distraction from the fact HCS superintendent Casey Wardynski used a photo of a young man wearing a hoodie to justify  building a $600,000  fence around, and installing a guard shack, I mean welcome center, at the new prison, I mean  Lee High School?

The four students from Lee High School who filmed a fight in a school bathroom and posted the video to YouTube did so as a gang initiation, Huntsville's superintendent said.
Dr. Casey Wardynski said the fight, which came to light Jan. 20 after the video went viral, wasn't an ordinary skirmish between students.

"It was a gang initiation; these students went to lunch together afterward," Wardynski said.

Not so, says the certified gang expert

"We have gangs in our schools," McDuffie said Monday. "That's not a hidden fact. It's here, and we know it's here."
McDuffie declined to call the incident at Lee "gang-related," though.
"It has all the earmarks of a gang-related incident, but we can't say for sure," he said. "The reason we can't pinpoint it is that there's no concrete evidence."

What if the reason parents were met with metal detectors at the last school board meeting is because they got wind the Concerned Parents of North Huntsville (i.e. black) were being encouraged to to attend to the school board meeting to protest black students being forced to wear orange jump suites, I mean uniforms to schools?
 
Huntsville/Madison County NAACP Branch

May 3.There is an important school board meeting for the Huntsville City Schools on Thursday, May 3rd at 5:30 p.m. The main issues are the building of the fence and guard shack at the new Lee High School and other impending changes for next school year including changes that MAY result in a proposed stoppage of transfers to other schools in the district as well as why schools in the North side of town... will wear uniforms while the south will not. Your presence and voices are needed. Our children need strong, intelligent cheerleaders. . Your attendance will be greatly appreciated. The meeting will be held at 200 White Street Huntsville, AL 35801.  This information is via Concerned Citizens Of North Huntsville organization.

What if Al Langford is the fall guy?

When asked if he agreed with Lankford's decision to stop Winn from recording the meeting, Blair declined to discuss it.
"I'm not going to Monday morning quarterback the actions," Blair said. "We're there to do the business of the board, to move the school system forward. I'm not going to second-guess Al's decisions."

Does David Blair think tax payers are stupid enough to believe Al Langford has decision making authority and the power of the purse?  Does David Blair think the tax payers haven't noticed longtime, African American teachers/principals/administrators employed by the Huntsville City Schools are being fired/demoted and being replaced by friends with no training or experience?

In the army we call that whining.

In the civilian world we call that Intitimidation.

Today's Must Read

Principal  Signs Contract, Then Looks at Map

"Al Lankford needs to be put in his place ASAP"

Huntsville City Schools Chief of Security Al Lankford (L) with Huntsville City Schools Superintendent  Casey Wardynski  (R) at Lee High School student protest

Blame it on the black guy.  This is the prevailing sentiment from some of the comments on al.com in response to reporter Crystal Bonvillians'  headline,  Security officer forces parent to stop recording Huntsville board meeting, which gives the misleading (IMHO) impression the head of Huntsville City School Security Chief Al Lankford is letting power go to his head.  Big RedEye Roll

Let's go inside the story.  Anyone, including Crystal Bonvillian, who doesn't believe Al Lankford was just following orders, is not aware of the pattern of behavior of the Huntsville City School Board of Education towards parents who are vocal and involved.  They try and suppress dissent by any means necessary.  This is not the first time Mr. Winn was told there would not be a recording of a public meeting, nor is it the first time the School Board (not Al Langford)  has flagrantly violated the Alabama Open Meetings Law. 

I am beginning to suspect this whole issue is a set up to make Al Lankford the fall guy.  Why?  Because of the description posted at Geek Pavaler (Mr. Winn's blog) regarding the surprise interaction he had with school board Vice President David Blair before the meeting started.

Did Blair and his fellow board members know what was coming?  I say yes, because of their lockstep, see no evil, hear no evil, speak on evil , comments/reactions reported in the Huntsville Times following the incident.  Blair went on to say "I am not going to question Al's actions."  Un-huh.  Blame it all on "Al".

Psst Al, someone wants your J-O-B!

Edit~Is Al Langford a Voice or an Echo?

Huntsville City School Security  Chief Al Lankford (L) Huntsville City School Superintendent Casey Wardynski (R)

Here

We

Go 

Again

The Huntsville School board claims to be intimidated by the people they are supposed to serve, the parents/tax payers.  The only time they want parental involvement is when certain parents agree with them. Parents who don't agree with them are met with metal detectors, or the television feed just happens to have a glitch just as public comments are about to start.

If anyone believes Al Langford is not following orders I have some nice ocean front property in Utah for sell.

Blair said he only learned of the incident when contacted by the media Monday.
"There are so many things going on at the board meetings," Blair said, "that I don't sit there and look for intimidation and threats."
Blair said he's always found Winn to be pleasant and cordial. He did say, however, that some people at the December meeting found Winn's minute and a half of silence uncomfortable.
"I didn't, but I think other people may have found it upsetting," Blair said. "It was kind of awkward."
When asked if he agreed with Lankford's decision to stop Winn from recording the meeting, Blair declined to discuss it.
"I'm not going to Monday morning quarterback the actions," Blair said. "We're there to do the business of the board, to move the school system forward. I'm not going to second-guess Al's decisions."

Un Huh. RedEye Roll  Blame it on the black guy.

I know from personal experience this is how the HCS systems deals with  taxpayers who don't go along to get along.  Mr. Winn should be glad he wasn't  arrested, charged, and convicted of harassment for trying to stand up for the rights of not only his student, but all students.

Today's Must Read
Trayvon Martin comes to the Huntsville City Schools
It seems to me that Dr. Wardynski also sees threats in things that just don’t seem threatening to me. For example, during his presentation to the board concerning his recommendation to put a fence and a “welcome center” (read: guard shack) around the new Lee High campus, he asked for several photos of the neighborhood surrounding Lee High to be displayed for the board and the public.