Cleveland Metropolitan School District will not renew its camera contract with the controversial Flock Safety company, and some local activists are welcoming the decision.
The district has directed Flock to suspend use of all 201 cameras on district property, it said in a statement Monday night. Bryn Adams, a member of the Flock No Cle activist group, said other political bodies in Cleveland and beyond should follow suit.
"I think it is really reassuring to feel like at least some leadership body in the city is reflecting on the risks and costs associated with just sort of running headlong into these tech quote unquote 'solutions' to problems that they don't actually solve," Adams said.
The announcement comes ahead of a school board meeting Tuesday where the board had been expected to consider a resolution extending the contract for one year for $603,000. The district's contract with Flock lapsed at the end of June 2026, although the cameras continued to stay on through a short-term extension.
"In recent weeks, the District has conducted a broad review of CMSD’s exterior security, including surveillance, site conditions, staffing, and other factors," the statement reads. "Additionally, the Board of Education has urged the administration to examine closely: the unique aspects of Flock’s technology; privacy concerns raised by the community and Board members; input from the district’s law enforcement partners; the overall cost-benefit of Flock as compared to alternatives; and existing District capabilities. The District has decided not to pursue an extension of CMSD’s contract with Flock Safety."
CMSD will continue its review of "alternative" safety measures, it added in the statement. A significant number of CMSD staffers' cars have been broken into in school parking lots over the last two school years, causing frustration and fear.
"CMSD schools will continue to be supported by the District’s existing surveillance network, including nearly 5,000 District-owned cameras, Safe Passage, our continued partnership with CDP (Cleveland Department of Police) and RTA (Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority), recently deployed temporary parking lot monitors, and other physical security measures," the statement adds. "CMSD continues to evaluate longer-term options that can provide effective security. The District’s goal is to direct resources toward the combination of measures that provides the most responsible safety benefit for our schools and community."
Flock No Cle has said the AI-powered license plate reader system's potential for "misuse and abuse is extremely well-documented," echoing national concerns.
Adams said the decision not to renew the contract does not end the group's concerns, however.
"If the cameras don't get taken down, if they just get replaced with another system, this is a problem that's just gonna keep coming up. And so I think it's something that we still feel we have to be vigilant about," she said.
The district said it recently concluded an audit of its Flock system, which led to it closing access to all non-Cleveland Police or CMSD officials as of July 2026. Prior to that, according to a copy of the Sept. 30 audit report provided by CMSD, it did explore "activities and system-related information covering fiscal years 2024 through 2027."
"During June 2026, the Network Audit contained 141,032 searches, including 16 CMSD searches, 10,832 CDP searches, 59,219 searches by other Ohio organizations, and 70,965 searches by out-of-state organizations," the audit reads.
The audit does not explain which out-of-state organizations or other Ohio entities accessed CMSD's Flock data, what the purpose was, or what timeframe the 141,032 searches covered. Adams said how that data was used also remains a concern for Flock No Cle.
