Instagram Photo of Non-student Ruled an Exempt Education Record by LASD

[XLFD]

In late November, a student at Mason County Central Schools (MCC) at his home in the evening took a photo and put it on Instagram with a caption.  The next morning, an unnamed Ludington Area School District (LASD) administrator saw the picture and deemed it as a threat and involved the Ludington School Resource Officer (SRO) Chad Skiba and MCC Middle School Principal Jeff Tuka, who had that student attending his school.  

MCC Schools and the area's law enforcement reacted by apprehending the student, and relocating the other students while a bomb-sniffing dog was called up from Muskegon to make sure there was no bomb on the middle school's premises.  None were found, the boy insisted it was a joke, but MCC school Superintendent Jeff Mount (pictured below, with a fuse in his forehead) didn't see it that way, strongly supporting a year long expulsion of the young boy from any Michigan school, and getting it from a willing school board after discussing the particulars during a closed session on December 17.  

"We have to send a clear message to (the student) and others that this is a behavior that cannot be tolerated... it completely threw the school on its ear that day and there was little academic progress made by the other 1300 kids we are responsible for.", he reportedly said, "We need to send a message to our community that this is a safe place.  We need to send a message to our kids that this is a safe place and that we cannot tolerate unsafe behavior."

Obviously, the student's sending of a message is what started this series of events, but what message does everybody get from the school's action if we do not know what the nature of the Instagram post actually was?  No law enforcement or school official wants to show us the post and let us judge for ourselves whether the school's/police's reaction was reasonable or overblown (if I can say 'overblown' in this context without shutting down half the county and endangering my freedom).  For fear of my own safety to express my opinion through a picture, I feel I must also offer a disclaimer that Jeff Mount is not an actual explosive device, not even a firecracker, and that nobody should go to school tomorrow since it's closed for Christmas vacation.

And since this Instagram post was discovered by a LASD administrator, one would have to believe that they made electronic copies of the post, and made contacts with the local police and/or appropriate MCC officials.  This is why I chose to make a request through LASD to get the original post, since sources told me that the 'bomb threat' was made as an attempt of humor by somebody whose first language may not be English.

But even LASD would not reveal the Instagram post/picture, deciding that they could withhold it from the public by claiming it was an 'education record' protected by the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA).  This law's original purpose was to prevent schools/colleges from accessing your personal school records to just anybody, but it has been used quite frequently (and unlawfully) to block FOIA requests for records that are not educational in nature.

And that's what happened here after I sent a FOIA request to LASD Superintendent Jason Kennedy.  I asked for:   "The LASD administrator's copy of the bomb threat and any written communications (including E-mails, social media messages, and text messages) regarding that threat sent to other school and law enforcement officials made by that administrator."

If it's not intuitively understood by the layman, there isn't any 'education records' called for, these are all communications between officials regarding a perceived threat made by a child who isn't in the LASD.  FERPA agrees:

Ergo, for Superintendent Kennedy to claim a 'FERPA privilege' the student needs to be attending an LASD institution, minimally.  Claiming no other exemption the response with the picture blurred out, many words on communications between officials blacked out, is an invalid response.  I have appealed this to the LASD Board who may consider it at their special meeting on January 7th, if it does not get corrected before then.  

What did I get?  I received a browned out picture, with the poster's name blacked out, and the nine words I put under Superintendent Mount above.  Apparently the only part of this 'education record' the non-LASD-student made that was not exempt were those words.  Then there was this communication between Chad Skiba and our still-unknown LASD administrator:

These text messages are definitely not 'education records' and so the elimination of certain words regarding non-curricula material is violating the pro-disclosure tenets of the FOIA.  Another page starts out with a totally blacked out paragraph between Principal Tuka and the LASD administrator followed by what mode each school was going into.  

If our school leaders want to send everybody a message, why don't they let us see their messages and the context behind those messages rather than congratulating themselves for successfully expelling a student for what could have been protected speech under the First Amendment-- as my original picture with those same nine words were, expressing the explosive character of Jeff Mount, running his school on fear rather than hope, intolerance rather than tolerance.  

It should also make you wonder that if LASD Superintendent Kennedy is willing to forego transparency by openly violating the FOIA in this case, is he also hiding relevant public information and records regarding the $100 million renovations of the LASD Buildings from the public as well?  

[XLFD]

I was not impressed with the zero tolerance Kennedy allowed in the Google swastika incident, but he has allowed for some transparency since-- until now.  The FOIA partial denial I received has been appealed and carbon copied to the 2019 members of the LASD Board for their review.  I expect they will be advised by the county sheriff and prosecutor to refuse any further disclosure, even though FERPA does not apply.

[Willy]

I agree that the information regarding this matter needs to be made public. Leave out the bomb threat student's identity of course but let the people who pay for the schools know what happened. It never ceases to amaze me how those hired by the public want to keep information from them. As if they know better than the taxpayers. Almost typical public employee thinking.

[XLFD]

And that's basically all I'm asking for.  I've been taken to task by a couple of people who wonder how I would react if it was my son or daughter in the MCC Middle School that day and the officials did something other than the steps they took to err on the side of caution.

Frankly, if my information is correct, the boy involved was an honor student without any type of demerit, and the extent of the post is not a threat to the boy's school without adding meaning and implications to the words he chose to use which he never intended.  I believe the school/sheriff figured that any threat was not credible after their preliminary investigation and well before evacuation was done and bomb-sniffing dogs were contacted.  

I may be unduly suspicious of public officials, but I believe the only bomb threat-- and every media that reported on this claimed it was a 'bomb threat'--was created by the authorities for their own purposes, and not with any thought as to how it would affect the blossoming psyches of the students who were/are led to believe that one of their fellow students were trying to kill them with a bomb.  Replacing a day of what could have been productive learning, happy thoughts, and a concert/choir assembly, with one of terror, hopelessness, and the knowledge that one of their peers would forever wear a scarlet letter because they had psychotic thoughts of bombing others.  An otherwise harmless and meaningless Instagram post did not do that.

So to those who wonder how I would react if my kid was in that school:  I would be working even harder for the records they want to illegally withhold, and I would be asking them to reevaluate the process that struck needless anxiety onto my child (and hundreds of others) and expelled another child for a year for an offense that was primarily constructed by hysteria and over-precautions.

[stump]

  I don't really care who found the message , It was reported to the proper people and I believe the correct action was taken at the time. Looking at the other side of the situation , what if the message was found and nothing was done and the unthinkable BOOM happened? I don't know even back 50+ years ago when I was in school this type of action would have been shrugged off. This kid needs major detention and don't put the blame that he is a migrant . Sending a message? Dam right!!!!!!   

[stump]

Now lets look at WHAT WOULD YOU DO?   Your child see's the posting on instagram or any other posting and brought it to your attention. Would you notify  the proper authorities about the posting ?  just dismiss it as a prank?  just send your child to school  and hope for the best?

[XLFD]

Wish I could answer that question, Stump, but I will have to defer an answer to when I get the picture(s) behind this incident and a better understanding of the context.  Please remind me again when that happens.

[snide]

I totally agree with stopping the problem in it's tracks and the reporting of the incident to the proper authorities, Stump..... The only thing I have a problem with is, if this kid is a MCC student why is Ludington (LASD) looking further into his InstaGram acct and claiming it's okay because it's a "Exempt Educational Record"....? That seems to me to be crossing the line especially when it's not your student.