Caddo Parish School District staff on Dec. 16 outlined plans to formalize memoranda of understanding with law‑enforcement and mental‑health partners tied to a school‑safety grant and existing monitoring systems.

Barzana White, a district school psychologist in the Security Division, described Lightspeed — the district’s monitoring tool — and said it flags content on district‑owned devices and on school Wi‑Fi for bullying, suicidal ideation or homicidal ideation. "If we have a student or staff member or anybody else that says something in terms of Chromebook or they're on Caddo's website or they're on their own personal cell device, but they're on our WiFi, if it's related to bullying, hate language, suicidal ideation, homicidal ideation... then it flags it," White said.

White said the district has used Lightspeed through prior funding and that the grant application requires formal MOUs with partner agencies. She said the staff estimate for the Lightspeed/MOU component of the current grant application would be about $1,000,000 if the district is awarded that portion of funding; she also referenced past awards the district received while in her tenure.

Board members asked detailed questions about what data the technology collects, whether the system monitors personal devices and how false or frivolous anonymous reports would be handled. White and the district attorney said the system primarily monitors district devices on the district network; site‑level staff screen many flags and confidentiality protocols (FERPA/HIPAA) and written MOUs will define roles and data flows. "They are confidential information also... They don't go out and spill it out to everyone in the world," the attorney said, describing need‑to‑know handling.

The chair placed the MOUs (7.02 and 7.03) as non‑consent items after a board member pulled them for separate consideration, so formal approval was not completed in the executive committee session.