Inside Munger Elementary-Middle School on Martin Street on Detroit's southwest side, what looks like a horizontal iPad is installed just inside the school's front entrance. Every visitor to the school must present a valid form of identification, such as a driver's license, to have it scanned by the iPad and then have their face scanned.
When the two images are cross-referenced and verified, the visitor's information is saved in the school's system for future visits.
The system is part of a new facial recognition software system, called Visitor Aware, now in place at every Detroit Public Schools Community District school. The system matches visitors' faces against a valid form of identification before they're allowed into the school. When visitors are flagged, they may not be allowed in the building.
Munger Elementary-Middle School Principal Donnell Burroughs said the software, which was officially rolled out earlier this school year, was needed for security. It's "more secure and safe" than a traditional sign-in sheet for visitors, Burroughs said.
But critics have concerns about how facial recognition is being used in schools. Some cited privacy concerns and worried about inaccurate identifications, meaning someone is flagged when he or she shouldn't be. Others said they worry about the technology having a chilling effect, possibly discouraging some parents from visiting their children's schools.
“What these systems are trying to do is to automate student security without human involvement," said Molly Kleinman, managing director of the University of Michigan's Science, Technology and Public Policy program.
Detroit is one of 12 districts in Michigan that use Visitor Aware, according to its parent company Singlewire. Bloomfield Hills Schools also launched Visitor Aware last month.
Both the Detroit school district and Bloomfield Hills Schools said it streamlines the process for allowing visitors into buildings and that keeping students and staff safe is their "highest priority."
School officials said the software is not used beyond its intended purpose, which is to verify visitors are who they say they are.
People are routinely asked to verify their identity in other parts of their lives, said Joe Hilliard, the Detroit school district's director of technology infrastructure. Schools are no different, he said.
"It's just like if you go to a concert or go to the liquor store, the first thing they're going to do is look at your ID, look at you and ask, 'Is that you?'" Hilliard said.
FACIAL RECOGNITION REMAINS 'FAR TOO UNRELIABLE,' ACLU SAYS
Visitor Aware is used by 360 districts across the United States, according to Singlewire.
"Visitor Aware is a digital visitor management system for schools to verify and record who is coming into their buildings to help ensure a secure environment for students and staff," said Chris Swietlik, Singlewire's communications director.
The firm said the technology is specifically geared toward student and visitor management. Singlewire claimed that Visitor Aware's encrypted facial recognition "results in fewer false positives" or inaccurate identifications.
"Visitor Aware utilizes a high match threshold to prevent false alarms and protect visitor privacy, flagging individuals only when there is a high degree of certainty against official databases," Swietlik said. "For returning visitors, a 97 percent match is required to trigger a flag."
Critics said they still have concerns about the accuracy of facial recognition systems. Nationally, some have raised concerns about facial recognition systems being used on students in school buildings and in classrooms.
UM's Kleinman said false positives result from white, adult male faces being used in the development of the software. She said the software is usually "highly accurate" with this population, but less so with children, women and people of color.
"Until those rates improve, until those inaccuracies decline, it’s far too unreliable and far too dangerous for governments to be relying on verification through facial recognition," said Ramis Wadood, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.
At Detroit Public Schools Community District — Michigan's largest school district with roughly 49,000 students, more than three-quarters of whom are Black, according to the National Center for Education Statistics — officials said the software is used in a way to avoid running the risk of falsely identifying a person as someone else.
"We use it against an actual ID, not against a national database, so we don’t have that issue (of someone being falsely identified) because when that person’s picture is taken, it’s recognizing them against an ID and nothing more. So the accuracy is far greater than what they may be mentioning," Detroit school district spokesperson Chrystal Wilson said.
The district's Hilliard said Visitor Aware can cross-reference IDs against government lists, but the Detroit school district doesn't use it for that purpose. Because of this decision, parents with a criminal record may still visit their children in the school in most cases, he said.
Jermaine Murray, whose child attends Charles L. Spain Elementary School in Detroit, said he's fine with facial recognition as long as the school doesn't share his information outside its system.
"If someone comes in and does do something, there you go — you've got the info on somebody," said Murray, 35. "That's a safe way to go about that."
OAKLAND CO. DISTRICT ADOPTS FACIAL RECOGNITION
Bloomfield Hills School, an affluent district in Oakland County with approximately 4,900 students in 10 buildings, rolled out Visitor Aware in March.
The system is described as a "streamlined" system for signing in and out of the district's school buildings to help keep them "safe and welcoming." Visitors are asked to present a valid state-issued photo ID, which is then securely checked against national safety databases.
If a "concern" is identified, entry is paused for review, according to the district's website. Guests who are approved to enter are then given a printed visitor pass, allowing them to continue into the building.
District officials didn't define what a "concern" would be. The data collected by the district's facial recognition software "is used only for its intended purpose," according to an emailed statement from the district. But visitors who refuse to have their photo taken won't be allowed in, according to the district's website.
"The system is designed with privacy and data protection as a top priority," the Bloomfield Hills Schools statement reads.
If parents forget their ID, school administrators make decisions about allowing visitors inside "on a case-by-case basis," according to the district's website.
While district officials insist the software is aimed just at boosting security, facial recognition can still have a chilling effect on families, UM's Kleinman said. This is especially the case in areas with a large immigrant population or where families have had past encounters with the legal system, she said.
“It also puts parents and children at higher risk of things like ICE enforcement," Kleinman said, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that has been more aggressive about detaining suspected illegal immigrants under President Donald Trump.
On its website, the Bloomfield Hills school district said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will not be notified when visitors present their IDs. BHS was not available for an interview about the software.
Munger's Burroughs said he has not heard any complaints from parents about the software so far.
"The biggest issue is just getting this information out to our families, and once we did that, our families were able to come in and see how the process works," he said.
PRIVACY VS. PUBLIC SAFETY
While Detroit school district officials said they don't share information collected from visitors' IDs, they still use the information for their own public safety efforts — something the ACLU's Wadood questions.
Hilliard said a person whose ID is logged in the district's system may be flagged by an official at the district level for "whatever the reason might have been." This can lead to the visitor being barred from a building, he said.
Lakesha Stiles, whose grandchildren attend Spain Elementary, said facial recognition could be useful if a student is in the protective custody of a parent or guardian.
“Only that one parent can come pick that child up, or only that guardian can come get that child, versus your face isn’t on there, then you come get the kid, and the kid is missing, and it's a bunch of chaos," Stiles said.
Wadood said it's "definitely the responsibility of the school administrators to protect students" against possible threats. But the ACLU official added that school districts have protected students for decades without facial recognition software.
"School administrators need to find a healthy balance for parents and students where they feel safe, but also respecting the privacy and civil liberties of the general public," Wadood said.
Beyond facial recognition, Kleinman said schools could spend money on hiring more teachers or paraprofessionals, which can improve safety and student achievement. She called facial recognition "a simple technical fix" to a complex social issue.
The UM expert acknowledged that her recommendations are more challenging than installing facial recognition.
“You really have to get at the underlying causes of violence and danger," Kleinman said.
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