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Board rejects state‑funded AI camera pilot after split vote; amendment for third‑party audit also fails
Summary
The board declined to accept a $3 million state safety grant to deploy Evident AI‑integrated camera upgrades after debate about vendor transparency, facial recognition and vendor stability; an amendment to require a third‑party audit failed as well.
New Hanover County Schools’ board members voted against accepting a state‑sponsored pilot to install camera upgrades and AI monitoring across secondary schools, concluding the vendor and scope raised too many unresolved concerns.
Board member Pat Bradford moved to accept a pilot safety grant that would implement camera upgrades integrating AI technology at high schools and middle schools while excluding activation of facial‑recognition features. The motion was seconded, but the board declined the proposal in a roll‑call vote after extended public comment and internal debate.
A separate amendment — to condition any contract on a third‑party security and privacy audit of the vendor, Evident — was proposed. That amendment failed on a roll call. The original motion then failed as well.
Board members voiced multiple concerns during debate: vendor transparency and financial stability, the limits of Evident’s detection capabilities as presented at a public town hall, and the potential for future activation of sensitive features such as facial recognition. "If somebody is unwilling to have a closer look, that makes me question their integrity and their transparency," one board member said after reviewing the vendor presentations and reports from another district that had contracted with the company.
Supporters of the pilot said the technology could help administrators respond faster in critical incidents by flagging open doors, fights or potential weapon indicators and cited principals’ interest in a real‑time alerting capability. "It would send an alert notification...and it would send it to the core administrators at a building to say, 'Hey, you need to look at this area,'" a supporter summarized.
Opponents argued the product demonstrated at a town hall did not clearly show reliable gun or fight detection, and some noted that the vendor has operational problems elsewhere. The board’s votes left the grant available to the state and removed the district from immediate participation in the proposed pilot.
No contract was executed and no district cameras were reconfigured as a result of the meeting; staff were directed to continue researching options and to raise concerns found during vendor due diligence in future procurement discussions.
