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Davidson County Board tables $1.97 million AI video-analytics pilot after board questions
Summary
The board delayed approval of a nearly $2 million AI video-analytics pilot that would add analytics to school surveillance feeds, voting to table the item to the Jan. 21 meeting after questions about privacy, accuracy and scope.
Davidson County Schools officials asked the Board of Education on Jan. 6 to approve a $1,969,632 grant-funded pilot with Evident to add automated analytics to campus camera systems, but the board voted to table the award for further discussion.
The pilot, drawn from a state safety grant, would install servers that analyze video feeds for five automated alerts — weapons detection, perimeter intrusion, visible smoke/fire, “person down,” and suspicious crowd movement — at three initial sites: Wahlberg, Tyrell Elementary and Central Davidson High School. School staff said personally identifiable information (PII) and facial-recognition feeds would not be provided to the vendor.
Supporters described the technology as a state-of-the-art addition to school safety tools. Operations director Chris Johnson told the board Evident’s work at the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics was a factor in the selection. Johnson said alerts would be routed to school administrators and the school resource officer (SRO) and that the North Carolina Center for Safer Schools would review pilot data before any districtwide rollout.
Board members raised questions about where detection would be enabled (interior vs. exterior cameras), how alerts would be triaged (school hierarchy and when law enforcement is notified), the pilot’s metrics and the potential for false positives. Several members asked whether local law enforcement — Sheriff Simmons and his team — had been consulted; staff said sheriff’s leadership had attended a presentation and expressed support. Concerns about HIPAA/FERPA and the civil liberties implications of automated surveillance were voiced by multiple board members.
After extended discussion, a motion was made and seconded to table the award for additional review and for staff to arrange further briefings, including inviting the sheriff’s office and an Evident representative. The board voted to table the recommendation to the Jan. 21 meeting; the record indicates a voice vote but does not list a roll-call tally.
The request was described as a two-year master service agreement with a statement of work to begin January 2025. Staff said the pilot’s purpose is to collect and tune analytics at three schools before any broader deployment.
Staff added that no PII would be supplied to Evident and that the system would connect to the district’s existing camera infrastructure. The vendor would determine which existing cameras are best suited to each analytic alert, and district leadership said they would provide a metrics and false-positive review to the state center.
Next steps: the board directed staff to schedule further information and stakeholder briefings ahead of the Jan. 21 meeting where the item will be revisited.
Votes at a glance: Motion to table the Evident safety grant to the Jan. 21 meeting — passed (voice vote; exact tally not specified).
