IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa school district has secured federal grant funding to monitor students’ social media accounts for possible warning signs that students might harm themselves or their peers. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that the Iowa City Community School District received the grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. A portion of the $187,000 grant is earmarked to contract with a company that will scan social media posts. It’s part of a district-wide push to improve safety across the school district.
School officials have not yet determined what all the monitoring will entail. School officials note that the district already has the right to look at the emails and Google Drive accounts of students who are using district technology.