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October 15, 2026 · Cleveland, OH · Transparency

Cleveland schools' Flock audit shows about 130,000 outside searches before access was cut; board expected to vote Oct. 27 on a $603,000 renewal

Cleveland Metropolitan School District safety officials asked the school board on Oct. 13 to approve a one-year, $603,000 contract with Flock Safety to keep 201 license plate readers running in parking lots at 62 schools, Signal Cleveland and Ideastream Public Media reported. The district's previous contract lapsed this summer, and Flock has let it keep using the system under a short-term extension. A presentation on an internal audit requested by board chair Sara Elaqad showed that more than 500 outside law enforcement agencies had access to the district's Flock data and searched it more than 130,000 times before the district revoked outside access on July 6; 92% of searches of district data were by non-local agencies. Signal Cleveland and Ideastream said the period those searches covered was unclear (Axios Cleveland reported the figure was for June). In June, the district had told Signal Cleveland that only its security staff and Cleveland police could access the data; a district spokesperson said that was incorrect and that the safety chief misspoke while the district was still working to limit access. Since July, only CMSD and Cleveland police have searched the data (16,047 searches from July 7 through Aug. 28), and district officials said none were for immigration or reproductive-rights reasons. The district has not released the audit itself and has denied Signal Cleveland's requests for search data. The presentation estimated a district-owned camera system without plate reading would cost about $346,500 up front. Members of the Flock No Cle campaign urged the board not to renew. Axios Cleveland and Signal Cleveland report the board is expected to vote at its Oct. 27 meeting; Ideastream says the vote could come as soon as that meeting.

Local file: cleveland, OH

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