NC Public School Districts Leverage Big Data Tools to Screen Kids for Social Justice Scores, ‘Moral Interventions’

SMITHFIELD – Most conservative parents are well aware of the pervasive Wokism preached in many public schools, but the reach of social justice activists in classrooms and administrative offices goes far beyond a mere lesson on the popular (and asinine) ‘Equity vs Equality’ illustration and worksheet.

No; they want to collect, map, score, and modify how individual students react to such Woke characterological issues, and North Carolina Public School districts are leveraging Big Data collection on students to gauge and shape thoughts and attitudes to better match the anti-racist dogma currently sweeping our culture.

Lest you think it’s only those school districts embedded in deep blue pockets of the Old North State, think again; today’s jarring example hails from Johnston County Public Schools System. Michelle Antoine, a former teacher and counselor with a masters in education that resides in Johnston County has written a four part series for Joco Report on the activists in our schools.

The latest entry in the series details how activists are using big data to develop what seems an awful lot like a Woke social credit system in our public schools, and it’s in full swing in Johnston County. The entire series is worth a read, especially for parents of students. The following excerpt should give any parents pause, and concern anyone who values first principles and sound education:

“[…] When a low social score alarms the dashboard for intervention a program called Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) is utilized. Instead of the former low-tech Response to Intervention where a teacher would notice a problem and submit for an evaluation to a counselor or therapist, MTSS incorporates all students into intervention. MTSS has three tiers, level one is monitor- a universal level for all students with a schoolwide SEL program, level two is targeted interventions, and tier three requires intensive interventions. MTSS interventionists monitor SEL targeted individuals, to ensure the thoughts/behaviors improve with the assigned intervention tool, to bring the SEL social score to a deemed appropriate level. The JCPS has secured funding through Title IV grants and hired two new full-time SEL interventionists. 

Equity has become part of the social justice movement, it is about perceived fairness and Allen’s stated SEL Equity commitment is demonstrated by her partnered work with Panorama in a new tool called District Leaders Guide to SEL Equity.

JCPS promoted SEL day, along with Panorama. Panorama held an “SEL as Social Justice” workshop via zoom which is still available. The workshop was titled “Dismantling White Supremacy Within Systems and Self.”

Inside the modules, it plainly states “SEL is a System to Dismantle Systems of Oppression.” Panorama CEO has issued an affirming statement saying “We commit to dismantling systemic racism, we commit to embodying and spreading anti-racist practices,” they describe the unique position Panorama has to make that happen, with direct control over data for 10 million students and 1,500 school districts. 

The drive to utilize metadata to score individual students’ beliefs, emotions, and behaviors and run interventions on their thoughts and character is a dystopian nightmare. JCPS is participating in tracking and recording our children, parents, and teachers while we pay the tab. The generic contract with Panorama clearly states all student aggregated, non-identifiable data is theirs to use, share or sell. The terms of use on their website states children over 13 have no privacy expectation for their data.

Panorama admits the challenges of keeping the school data safe, and acknowledges possible hacking of the most private details of SEL, grades, behaviors is something not easily managed. Notable scholars question the untested SEL curriculum, deeming it a form of pop psychology, with only unreliable data to prove its effectiveness. Lessons about treating others how you want to be treated doesn’t require a social justice lens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It certainly shouldn’t administer social scores that may likely follow students through school and into their careers. The implications of bringing Big Data into our schools to oversee the moral character development of children should concern all parents and educators- likely the biggest activist is the one we aren’t even seeing at all. […]”

Along with giving parents chills, this information should also give them a firm resolve to engage in every single opportunity for input and comment on public education in JoCo and across the state. School board meetings, county commission meetings, PTA meetings, parent-teacher conferences, orientations, and all the relevant social media pages and discussions deserve strong voices to stand against such manipulative poison in our public schools. Without parents and community leaders standing up to provide an antidote, the Woke social controls will only become further embedded.

Read the rest of Part 4, and the first three parts in the series, here.