Tell the Department of Education: Ban Facial Recognition in Schools

Local school boards, state lawmakers, state education departments, and the federal Department of Education

The world’s most dangerous surveillance technology is invading our schools and putting kids at risk across the country.

In recent years school systems have been quietly introducing unethical experiments with facial recognition software, using it to scan, analyze, and collect sensitive biometric information on tens of thousands of students, parents, teachers, and staff.

No matter the form, whether it’s creepily watching students in class, tracking attendance, or monitoring hallways, facial recognition is invasive, biased, and puts people’s most sensitive data at risk of being abused or stolen. It simply does not belong anywhere near school campuses.

In fact, face scanning tech is so dangerous that New York state decided to ban its use in schools last year.

Now we need other states and the Department of Education to follow suit by taking a strong stand against face scanning. Sign the letter below to keep facial recognition out of schools.

To: Local school boards, state lawmakers, state education departments, and the federal Department of Education
From: [Your Name]

The world’s most dangerous surveillance technology is invading our schools and putting kids across the country at risk. Facial recognition is an unethical experiment, and using it to scan, analyze, and collect sensitive biometric information on tens of thousands of students, parents, teachers, and staff puts us all in danger.

Facial recognition technology isn’t safe. It’s biased, and more likely to misidentify students of color. It’s invasive, enabling anyone with access to the system to watch people's body movements, analyze facial expressions, monitor who speaks with whom, and even track how many times someone goes to the bathroom.

We are deeply concerned about cases where school administrators are using this technology to target students for being late or for minor rule breaking. Marginalized students are more likely to end up on watch lists or to get falsely arrested because of an error in the system.

Violating children’s basic rights won’t make them safer. We are calling on local lawmakers and state Departments of Education to follow the decision by the State of New York's Commissioner of Education and ban facial recognition in our schools.

We're also calling on the Department of Education to fulfill its responsibilities under the White House's Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence by putting out a guidance advising schools not to adopt facial recognition.

Finally, we urge local school boards to immediately reject this dangerous technology.