By Damien Willis | Organ Mountain News

Linewize Monitor ‘monitors everything’ students type on district-owned devices and alerts school officials to potential threats, bullying and other concerns

LAS CRUCES – Las Cruces Public Schools is budgeting $65,500 for software that monitors what students type on district-owned devices and alerts school officials to potential threats, bullying and other concerns.

The software, called Linewize Monitor, is already in its second year of use at LCPS and covers all grade levels, K-12, at every district school, spokesperson Kelly Jameson told Organ Mountain News.

The expenditure surfaced in an otherwise routine budget adjustment reviewed Thursday by the LCPS Finance Subcommittee.

The district is reallocating $1.896 million within its HB 33 capital improvement fund for several purposes, including a White Sands School facilities master plan, digital safety and student threat detection software and Title IX changing facilities at Las Cruces, Mayfield and Organ Mountain high schools.

The Finance Subcommittee recommended the budget adjustments for approval by the Board of Education.

The packet did not identify the threat-detection software by name or explain what it does, prompting Organ Mountain News to ask the district for more information.

“The product is called Linewize Monitor,” Jameson said. “It’s a software-based tool that monitors everything typed into a district-owned student device and automatically flags keywords and phrases that are of concern.”

Jameson said the program can also take screenshots “when appropriate” and send alerts to school officials.

She said the software monitors for threats of harm to self or others, bullying and other areas of concern.

Monitoring extends beyond keyword searches

Linewize describes Monitor as a digital threat monitoring system designed for K-12 schools.

According to the company, the software assesses what students type across Google products, Microsoft Office 365, offline documents, web chats, social media and other digital environments. It can operate while a device is online or offline and regardless of the network being used.

Linewize says the system looks for risks across categories that include violence, mental health concerns, bullying, self-harm, suicidal ideation, drugs, gangs, grooming and radicalization.

The company also says Monitor uses both automated technology and human moderators.

According to Linewize, trained moderators are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to review more serious alerts and reduce false positives before designated school staff are contacted. The highest-risk alerts can result in phone notifications to school officials.

The company says alerts include contextual evidence intended to help staff determine what response, if any, is warranted.

Jameson did not provide additional details about LCPS-specific data retention practices, how long screenshots or flagged activity may be stored or how alerts are reviewed after they reach district personnel.

Districtwide system, not White Sands-specific

The wording of the budget adjustment grouped the software with a White Sands School facilities master plan, but Jameson said Linewize Monitor is used districtwide.

She said the system covers all LCPS schools, all grade levels and all district-owned student devices.

Of the $1.896 million being reallocated within the HB 33 fund, $65,500 is associated specifically with the monitoring software.

The remaining funding is tied to other projects included in the same budget adjustment, including the White Sands facilities master plan and changing facilities at three comprehensive high schools.

Linewize says Monitor holds data privacy certifications associated with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, among other standards.

The company also markets the system as a student-safety tool designed to identify risks that may otherwise go unnoticed by teachers, staff or parents.

Damien Willis is founder and editor of Organ Mountain News. Previously, he was a lead reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. From 2014 to 2017 he served as the newspaper’s education reporter. 

This story was originally published by Organ Mountain News.