Caddo Parish School Board approves MOUs with local law enforcement despite privacy objections
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Summary
The Caddo Parish School Board on Dec. 16 approved memoranda of understanding with the Shreveport Police Department and a sheriff’s office, despite a board member warning the agreements risked "a slippery slope" for teachers’ cellphone and Wi‑Fi privacy; both measures passed with nine votes.
The Caddo Parish School Board on Dec. 16 approved memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with the Shreveport Police Department and with a sheriff’s office after staff recommended the agreements and the board voted to adopt them.
Miss Jessica Yates moved to approve the MOU with the Shreveport Police Department; Mister Mayo seconded. Board member Miss McClain opposed the measure, saying the agreement could become "a big violation of privacy on our teachers' cell phones, and any citizen cell phone that is utilizing our WiFi," and called it "a slippery slope." Board member Don Little said the MOUs are required by state and federal law and urged staff to be "conscientious of privacy and honoring of people's sovereignty." The Shreveport MOU passed with nine votes.
Shortly afterwards, the board approved a second MOU with the sheriff's office listed in the meeting packet. Miss Yates again moved the measure and Mister Mayo seconded; that item also passed with nine votes. The packet shows the items on the agenda as 7.02 (Shreveport Police Department) and 7.03 (sheriff's department); the transcript contains inconsistent spellings of the sheriff's office name.
The votes conclude formal approval of the agreements; the board did not adopt additional policy language on the public record to address the privacy concerns raised during the debate. Miss McClain’s objections were recorded on the floor, and members directed staff to proceed with implementation subject to applicable law and to be attentive to privacy protections in practice.
The board’s action comes amid broader national and local conversations about school-police partnerships and data use. The approved MOUs will allow the district and the named law-enforcement partners to formalize cooperative activities described in the packet; the transcript did not include the MOUs’ full text or operational details on data access, retention, or oversight.
Next steps noted in the meeting: the items will be implemented per staff procedures and the terms provided in the board packet; staff were asked to exercise care on privacy issues raised during debate.