wardynski

Casey Wardynski, superintendent of Huntsville City schools. (Eric Schultz/eschultz@al.com)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – The American Civil Liberties Union submitted an open records request to Huntsville City Schools in June seeking information about how the system monitors its students on social media.

Keith Ward, spokesman for the Huntsville schools, confirmed Thursday morning that the system received the letter, which was dated June 24, 2014. The school system did not immediately provide information on how the school system responded to the ACLU, but Ward said he was working on that request.

Huntsville City schools Superintendent Casey Wardynski confirmed to AL.com last week – reported in a story posted Wednesday – that the school system has been monitoring the social media accounts of students for 18 months after he says the National Security Agency tipped school officials about a student making violent threats on social media.

The NSA has said it has no record of that tip and calling a school system would be inconsisent with its practices.

The ACLU, in its letter to Wardynski, decried monitoring of students' social media as well as any potential punishments that could result from the monitoring. The ACLU expressed concern as well that blacks may be punished disproportionately from the monitoring of social media.

The ACLU has not responded to a request for comment from AL.com.

"A student whose online speech is deemed inappropriate could face punishment, including in-school or out-of-school suspension and sometimes even expulsion," the ACLU letter stated. "These punishments can constitute significant violations of students' rights to privacy and freedom of expression online."

The ACLU letter said that in the 2011-12 academic year – the most recent data available – 41 percent of Huntsville's students were black but 71 percent of the students receiving out-of-school suspensions were black and 60 percent of students expelled were black.

In a presentation about the monitoring system obtained by AL.com, photos show three black males and one black female as violating school policy. Wardynski told AL.com that the suspected students focused on by the program have been more racially balanced, and the program has identified students that could pose a safety threat in every high school in the city.

In its June letter, however, the ACLU had concerns about which students were being punished.

"The rise in monitoring of student speech on online social networks therefore raises serious concern that the disproportionate suspension and expulsion of black students in Huntsville may be accompanied by violations of these students' rights to privacy and freedom of expression online," the letter stated.

Among the ACLU's specific open records requests: All records of any disciplinary proceedings brought against any student for speech or images posted on an online social network and the number, race, gender and age of students subjected to proceedings.

In total, five of the 12 specific requests deal with the online social media monitoring.