Oregon Judge Dismisses Privacy Lawsuit Over Student Tracking in Beaverton Schools

The father of a 13-year-old student at Mountain View Middle School in Beaverton failed to obtain a temporary restraining order to halt the school’s use of digital hall passes.

Jeffrey Myers appeared in U.S. District Court in Portland on Thursday before Judge Adrienne Nelson, where he argued that the system tracks student movements in a way that could reveal psychological patterns and be used to monitor behavior.

Concerns Over Student Privacy and Data Access

Myers raised concerns about the number of school staff members who can access the digital pass data.

He also pointed out that the Beaverton School District had acknowledged the possibility of using the system for behavioral interventions, such as counseling. This, he argued, exceeded the boundaries of administrative record-keeping

Denying his application for a temporary restraining order to stop the use of the digital hall pass system, Judge Nelson pointed out that Myers’ daughter had never been involved in a hall pass intervention.

The judge also said that Myers, who had lodged an independent complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, should address his concerns there instead.

Myers had filed a separate complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, alleging that the Beaverton school district’s hall pass system was a violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

After testing a pilot program at the Whitford Middle School last year, the Beaverton school district introduced the hall pass system to nine of its middle schools.

Digital Hall Passes Are Not a GPS-Tracking System

Digital hall passes are not a GPS-tracking system, said an attorney for the school district. Instead, it helped schools control the amount of time students spent outside of classrooms during lessons.

The principal of Mountain View Middle School, Brian Peerenboom, said in a sworn declaration that before digital hall passes were introduced, teachers were unable to keep track of how often students asked to leave the classroom. This resulted in large groups of students gathering in hallways.

The introduction of the digital hall pass system last December increased student safety on campus, said Peerenboom.

Furthermore, no students had been punished for failing to return to class within the allotted time, and the system had increased classroom attendance while decreasing student behavioral problems. Peerenboom also said no staff member, parent, or student had complained.