Some parents in the Chico Unified School District say they’re worried about student privacy.
That’s after the school board this week approved moving forward with installing hundreds of new AI-powered surveillance cameras on campuses.
After hearing feedback from the community, the board said it would ensure that facial recognition technology wouldn’t be used.
But Theresa Ban, a parent at Hooker Oak Elementary School, told the board that she was still concerned about how student data could be stored and used in the future.
“I ask us to pause and not be on the bleeding edge of AI surveillance on our campuses,” Ban said.
Ban said she’d rather see the district err on the side of caution.
“Let other districts with less concerned parents stumble across these thresholds and see what the ramifications of those choices are, and then make different choices as a board and as a district,” Ban said.
School board president Rebecca Konkin said at the meeting that she feels strongly that moving forward with the cameras is the right decision.
“We have the best interest of our community in mind, as parents, as grandparents, and we wouldn't ask the community to trust a system that we ourselves didn't feel comfortable with,” Konkin said.
The board said it believes that with the right guardrails set up, the cameras will help create a safer environment on campuses.
The cameras are made by the Silicon Valley tech company Verkada. The board quietly approved a $2 million contract for the surveillance system in December, raising the alarm among parents, teachers and some students.
