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Parents Concerned About Access To Their Students’ Private Data In School District’s Computer System After Homecoming Queen Hack Arrests
March 17, 2021
Following the arrest of a Tate High School homecoming queen and her assistant principal mother for alleged improper use of an Escambia County School District computer system, parents are concerned about the safety and security of their students’ personal information and why they were not notified.
Laura Rose Carroll, 50, and her 17-year old daughter, Emily Rose Grover, were charged by state law enforcement with multiple computer crimes. Grover and Carroll, a now-suspended assistant principal at Bellview Elementary School, allegedly accessed hundreds of student accounts to cast fraudulent votes for Grover, enabling her to win the homecoming queen crown.
NorthEscambia.com took the parental concerns about student data to Escambia County School Superintendent Dr. Timothy Smith.
“An assistant principal and a principal have a lot of access in order to do their job,” Smith said. “There is a lot of information there.”
According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Escambia County School District FOCUS program contains grades, medical history, test scores, attendance, disciplinary actions, personnel information, emergency contacts, schedules, exceptional student education (ESE) information, student picture and student identification number. Teachers and staff members are able to view student profiles or more depending on access level.
An assistant principal, Smith said, would have district level inquiry access to the system.
Arrest affidavits obtained by NorthEscambia.com show the school district became aware in 2020 of the alleged improper use of the FOCUS system by Grover and Carroll.
Smith said the district will investigate.
“That’s something we will have to work with the state on and the steps they would have to take,” he said.
While no accusations have been made that the duo changed any grades, we asked Smith if that possibility would be investigated.
“We’ll have to see once FDLE is done what they have for us,” the superintendent said.
Nine students and one teacher provided statements to FDLE that said Grover spoke about accessing Carroll’s FOCUS account or they have seen her access it for almost four years.
“I have known that Emily Grover logs into her moms school account in order to access grades and test scores since freshman year when we became friends,” one student said in a statement to FDLE. “She has looked up [redacted] student ID before to [redacted]. She also knows that if she logs into her moms account at Tate it will ping that Laura Grover signed in at Tate High School. She looks up all of our group of friends grades and makes comments about how she can find out our test scores all of the time.”
“When Emily Grover was a sophomore [redacted] class, I recall times that she logged onto her moms focus account and openly shared information, grades, schedules, etc. with others. She did not seem like logging in was a big deal and was very comfortable with doing so,” another statement written by a witness said.
Carroll, and Grover where charged by FDLE with one count each of offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks, and electronic devices (a third degree felony), unlawful use of a two-way communications device (a third degree felony), criminal use of personally identifiable information (a third degree felony) and conspiracy to commit these offenses (a first degree misdemeanor).
The investigation started in November 2020 when the Escambia County School District contacted FDLE to report unauthorized access into hundreds of student accounts. The investigation found that Carroll and Grover had accessed student FOCUS accounts. FOCUS users are required to change their password every 45 days and Carroll’s annual training for the “Staff Responsible Use of Guidelines for Technology” was up to date.
In October 2020, hundreds of votes for Tate High School’s Homecoming Court voting were flagged as fraudulent, with 117 votes originating from the same IP address within a short period of time. Agents uncovered evidence of unauthorized access to FOCUS linked to Carroll’s cellphone as well as computers associated with their residence, with a total of 246 votes cast for the homecoming court. Multiple students reported that the Grover described using her mother’s FOCUS account to cast votes. The investigation also found that beginning August 2019, Carroll’s FOCUS account accessed 372 high school records and 339 of those were of Tate High School students.
Grover was expelled from Tate High School.
Pictured above and below: Laura Rose Carroll, Bellview Elementary Facebook and Escambia County Jail; Emily Rose Grover, Tate High School’s 2020 homecoming queen, NorthEscambia.com photo.
Comments
30 Responses to “Parents Concerned About Access To Their Students’ Private Data In School District’s Computer System After Homecoming Queen Hack Arrests”
It says a lot about how to district protects student records that this went on for so long, but the only thing that brought it to their attention was in the integrity of the Homecoming Queen vote. Meanwhile the student records that are covered by FERPA weren’t protected.
I would love to ask both women, “Was it worth it?” I don’t feel sorry for either one! As my dad told us “If you can’t do the time, then don’t do the crime!” I hope the mom is fired and the daughter not be allowed to graduate! Did they actually think they wouldn’t get caught?
I cannot see any reason whatsoever an assistant principal or principal should have access to any student not currently enrolled at school they administer. From what I gather out of all the stories I have read, FOCUS system required user to regularly update password & she was regularly updating her daughter to snoop and district was only aware after 3rd party vendor handling Homecoming Queen election caught all votes coming from same IP address. Makes you wonder about any results coming off FOCUS.
—very sad that this woman has ruined her daughters reputation and caused her embarrassment beyond measure.—no question of who was at fault in this circus! If you can’t trust your mother to do the right thing, who can you trust!!! Yes, the young lady knew it was wrong but if Mama says it is alright, then it must be. I feel very sorry for this beautiful girl. Shame, shame on her mom for this mess! I do not know these people but my heart goes out to the young girl. Even if the girl accessed the information, her mom had to give her the password!
How,
You have no ideal how right you are.
I know where the bodies are buried because I am a former employee who worked at one of the schools in the district.
The IT department is a joke and run by unqualified morons.
I am waiting for something worse to happen….
No one was interested in my concerns (media, other governmental agencies, public) so I quit my job and left the district.
Maybe one or both will make the “Who’s Who” list in the cafeteria of the pen
How can this district lag behind in technology. Do they have a department that oversees these things? So no red flags show up when someone is accessing so many accounts for a school they are not working for. Who is in charge of the IT department? Could it be more good ole boy system? Put a friend in charge that doesn’t really know what they are doing. There should be a lot more discipline handed out than the two who cheated. Very scary when you have a kid in Escambia and such important information can be breached so easily. Time to clean out some people sitting in those district offices that are asleep at the wheel
Pretty is only skin deep,ugly goes clear to the bone.
My Grand Dad taught me that many many years ago. Lot of truth in it.
One who gains victory through deceit can never truly own it. Quote from a 30 year old comic book, but very true!!
She pulled a Michael and bought herself a “world’s best boss” mug.
You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take – Wayne Gretzky” – Michael Scott
I would like to know if the mom’s suspension is paid or not? It seems Mrs. Carroll has already wasted our tax dollars doing unethical business for years no sense in continuing this wasteful behavior. Leave without pay because they will cost the taxpayers again when they get sentenced. Smh, I hope the crown was worth your 15 minutes in the spotlight.
I’m curious if the daughter approached mom with the idea of cheating or if the mother approached the daughter? Either way, they both deserve what they get. I can only imagine what these two are capable of, imagine what they would do if it was something really important, they would throw anyone and everyone under the bus!!!
In my day we were taught morals at home and at school. Not anymore since officials now think that teaching morals is the same as teaching religion! It is no longer important to not do bad, now its only important to not get caught!
I wonder if she can wear her crown in a jail cell..? ..All jokes a side,how horrible for this young girl to go thru Yea,,she had some fault in this but this will stick with her for a long time
My mama always told me ‘pretty is as pretty does’ and this girl and her mother are very ugly indeed aren’t they. It’s really sad to have to cheat to be crowned pretty or most popular and become Homecoming Queen. I wonder if she was the prettiest girl in lock up. Hope they get more than a slap on the wrist.
This happens more than people know. I have kids who attended Tate H.S. 20 years ago. One of my kids had a friend whose Mother was a substitute teacher at Tate. Even though the woman was NEVER a substitute in any of my child’s classes, she always seemed to know a little too much about my child’s school information such as test scores. She knew this info before my child or myself received the info from the school. There is only one way she could have received this info and that was through the school. There should be a simple way to insure that school employees including subs can access info ONLY for the students they teach and not for every student in the county. It should be no different than private companies who allow employees to access computer programs/information for their location only and not locations across the country/world.
“We’ll have to see once FDLE is done what they have for us,” the superintendent said.
The above statement attributed to Escambia County School Superintendent Dr. Timothy Smith doesn’t cut it. The District needs to take this more seriously!
This was a DATA BREACH and there are mandatory Federal and State laws and reporting procedures that must be followed.
Florida Information Protection Act of 2014. Florida Statute 501.171
I bet a bunch of attorneys will be on speed dial.
To the one saying this should just be internally written down as behavior. How do we know this person hasnt changed grades of people she didnt like ect or made people pass that shoulda failed. Theres alot more to this than you think
I wonder if she changed any grades
How incredibly shallow. Beyond the criminal aspect of this is the fact that Homecoming is an absolute waste of time and money. If more attention were paid to education instead of this our schools would be in a much better place.
It’s bad enough that this scandal happened, but think of what would have been much worse… if one of them had introduced a virus into the system from email or other file on their computer, the virus could then have inherited district level access to all student records. Can you imagine the heyday identity thieves could have with that kind of access? These two were apparently able to log in from whatever device they were using. Clearly, Carroll’s user account had far more access than she needed to do her job, if she could see any records outside her responsibilities at her school. I think this was a cheap wake-up call for the district to tighten security and access of all user accounts. How many other users have been browsing student records? How many grades have been changed? How many students’ personal information have been stolen? How many have had credit cards opened in their names without their knowledge? This could easily be much more serious than a homecoming queen election.
The days of trusting employees that we trust to care for our children are over, the ECSD needs to expand their security.
@np630ss I Reckon It Will Be The First Picture To Have A Asterisk Beside It In The Year Book !!!!
From Reading This It Look’s Like Miss Goodie 2 Shoe’s Thought Everything Was Funny / Now That She Has Been Expelled I Wonder If She’s Laughing Now !!! What A Shame To Mess Your Life Up Over Greed
EVERYONE should be concerned about all data and files electronically. Never trust 100% any electronic means of communication or online access. If it’s out there…..it can be accessed. Pictures, chats, accounts, cameras…. even your cars data. DUH
Remove Emily’s queen designation, expell her from school, put her and her mother in jail.
Should parents be concerned?Since this woman,the mother, worked for the school system and had access to the computer base, shouldn’t this just be written down as unethical behavior on her part for giving her daughter access to her work account? Surely there are ways in place for the county to monitor employees computers for suspicious activity?
Okay, I get that the Assistant Principals should have access to records and data for kids-parents in THEIR Specific School but WHY in the World would they have access to kids-parent records in Other Schools?
How many kids-parents information has been looked at and what was done, if anything, with those “looks”???
SO,,,,,this one case is where we know of this instance, How many others are there that have not been uncovered and revealed?
Hopefully, the parents-students of those who these two hacked have been informed their records were peeked at or altered, changed…..
My Gosh what a MESS and all over one of the most trivial things of the High School experience.
I wonder how they will explain this in the school yearbook. Homecoming Queen arrested and expelled. That’s gonna bring back a lot of memories in years to come.
this was my old assistant principal at bratt around 4-5 years ago. it’s shocking to see someone you know personally be charged with something like this.