Problems including access to porn called ‘growing pains’ for juvenile justice school

Florida Department of Juvenile Justice HQ in Tallahassee. (Photo by Michael Moline/Florida Phoenix)

The DeSantis administration is correcting oversight and equipment “growing pains” that allowed incarcerated juvenile offenders to watch movies and pornography on state-issued laptops as part of a new education program, according to the system’s top administrator.

Eric Hall, secretary of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, has told state lawmakers and administrative overseers that the problems emerged as the system struggled to create an entirely new way, melding classroom and internet instruction, to educate incarcerated kids.

“Well over 100 classrooms, from Pensacola all the way down to South Miami, is a big lift,” Hall told the trustees of the new system last month.

“And, with that — not excusing anything — I know that we had some students that tested the parameters of the security and got onto sites that they shouldn’t have. And in many cases, and like any school out there, the district, the providers, worked hand-in-hand to make sure that just like any school that has a student do something they shouldn’t do, you hold the student accountable and you tighten up your systems and your network to continue to make sure that you have security protocols that you need to ensure a good quality learning environment.”

The Phoenix reported in November about misuse of computers by students under the department’s custody and that some students needing special assistance may not have access to up-to-date individual education plans, or any plan at all.

New school model enables incarcerated kids to watch porn, public records show

The education model, operated on a contract basis by the Florida Virtual School (FLVS), started in July under the name Florida Scholars Academy via a statewide hybrid of online and in-person instruction that inspired high hopes compared to the old system, which varied from county to county. FLVS is an accredited remote-learning program, operating as a school district, for grades kindergarten through 12.

“Really, you know, recognize that, again, there’s growing pains and things that none of us want to see happen. But, at the same time, I want to thank the team at FLVS for working quickly and troubleshooting, and night-and-day difference from where we were to where we are today by a long shot with what we’ve been able to do and accomplish,” Hall said. 

Hall and the superintendent of the Florida Scholars Academy, Julian Cazañas, have said that administrators now have minimized student access to inappropriate content. The department, though, has not fulfilled repeated public-records requests from the Phoenix for records of student-conduct violations to confirm these assertions. 

Legislative interest

House and Senate budget committees have pressed Hall about the program and his assertions that things are improving.

During a House Justice Budget subcommittee meeting in February, Miami-Dade Republican Rep. Juan Porras questioned Hall’s description of the problems as “growing pains.”

“Obviously, a lot of members of our committee are aware of the incident with kids using pornographic material instead of schoolwork, so I’m a little concerned when you just refer to these things as ‘growing pains’ when we’re on seven to eight months of the program,” Porras told Hall. “I ask, at what point is that really kind of an administrative failure?”

According to Hall, the incidents have diminished over time.

“Access to the adult content that you’re referencing, that happened in the first couple months of operations. I can tell you that over the last several months we have not had those same types of issues,” Hall replied. “I think the concerns that you’re hearing are concerns of the initial few days, and I do not minimize that one bit. I want for my kids in our facilities just like I want for my own kids.”

Porras said incarcerated students and their parents have reached out to tell him “that they aren’t getting proper education,” and have complained their children are being given “packets” of work to keep them busy when the internet is down or when computers are not available.

Those packets “fill gaps” and ensure “continuity” when internet is not available, Hall said. As of February, one facility was still awaiting access to high-speed internet and using a Starlink device in the meantime. 

Porras asked Hall about Cazañas’ reprimand for “gross immorality” after he “grabbed [a student] by the shirt and struck him in the face” at Miami Lakes Middle School in 2002, according to state documents. 

Cazañas came with “very high recommendations from individuals that continued to supervise him” after he was disciplined, Hall said. There otherwise were “no significant findings against” Cazañas, he added.

“What they settled on is up to them,” he said, adding that the Miami district kept Cazañas employed and on a path to leadership. FLVS previously told the Phoenix Cazañas had passed a level 2 background check, a requirement to work in DJJ residential facilities. That entails checking fingerprints against state and national criminal records and often is required to work with vulnerable people.

Earlier, Hall faced questions in January from members of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Civil and Criminal Justice, including Sen. Ileana Garcia, who pressed him about the students’ access to pornography.

Finances

The Phoenix reported in November that the education program was running over its $23.4 million budget by about $7 million. The school attributed the overage to unexpectedly higher costs of equipment and setting up education plans. At that time, behavioral analyst Alyssa Richardson, who is contracted to work in some of the residential facilities, raised concerns about the cost of replacing or fixing laptops damaged or destroyed by students. 

Juvenile Justice education program having trouble figuring out finances

During a Florida Scholars Academy board meeting in February, FLVS said it has bought insurance to mitigate the cost of damaged computers. Lenovo had 100 of the state’s warranted laptops awaiting repair at that time, Cazañas said. The program enrolls about 1,400 students statewide. 

The department plans to use $6 million in unused funds from its first-year budget to supplement the current year’s $23.4 million appropriation. That, paired with federal grants, would put the expected budget at $32.1 million for this fiscal year.

According to a staff vacancy report from December, the school had three teacher vacancies out of approximately 112 positions and 12 paraprofessional vacancies (such as teacher assistants) out of 52 positions. 

Gov. Ron DeSantis recommended the Legislature appropriate $7.1 million for the Florida Scholars Academy for the coming fiscal year. The would be the final year of the contract.

Special education accommodations

Most of the about students are enrolled in high school courses. As of Feb. 13, FLVS reported the program had awarded 27 high school diplomas and 36 GED diplomas since July 10. Twelve of the graduates have diagnosed disabilities, according to the school. 

As of February, 32.5% of the DJJ student population were identified as students who needed special education accommodations. Identifying those students is part of the big lift Hall referenced.

According to FLVS, students with disabilities may not possess completed individual education plan paperwork before entering the DJJ system, either because they transferred schools, were chronically absent, were not going to school, or missed evaluations, leaving FLVS to identify students with those needs. 

According to the DOE, 30.7% of students in DJJ facilities had the education plans in March 2024. According to FLVS, that number was 33% in January this year.

Nikki Callaghan, exceptional student education director for FLVS, told trustees all plans are up to date except for new enrollees.

Monitoring computers

The school told the Phoenix in October it was “constantly monitoring our systems,” but declined to comment further, citing cybersecurity concerns. 

A team of 15 to 20 IT employees began work in January monitoring computer use across the system, Cazañas said. That’s six months after the program’s inception and one month after the Phoenix’s reports.

“I myself have learned a little bit more than I think most folks know about cybersecurity,” Cazañas told the FSA trustees. “The first thing I want to identify is the wonderful work our cybersecurity team is doing, and little did I realize that cybersecurity has many tentacles, if that’s the terminology we’re going to use.” 

Each morning the IT team meets in a “swarm, in a room, and are monitoring what is happening through the firewalls,” he said.

“It really has proven to help us, Number One, identify how the things are happening and, Number Two, documenting the corrective measures that we’re taking and helping understand how to just simply get to a point where we could lock everything down,” Cazañas said.

“So, for example, some of the things that we’ve done, is the access of inappropriate content has been diminished if not eliminated at this point by implementing several layers” of security.

Cazañas said the team is online from 8:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. monitoring and spends the rest of the day “trying to identify how to improve and how to better our system in order to be able to curtail any and all inappropriate activity.”

He added: “We are continuously looking at the firewalls and seeing any inappropriate traffic, whether it’s trying to access an outside resource, whether it’s any form of communication within themselves, we immediately jump on that, curtail it, and stop that.”

Some students were hiding computers in their rooms outside of school hours, Cazañas said. The computers now are inaccessible and offline after school hours to mitigate that problem, he said. 

The year-round school program operates in about 40 residential facilities across the state, run by private providers.

“Across the board, there’s a lot of great things happening, but some of you have heard me say before: Good is only good when better’s not expected, and we’ve got to continue to expect better, because our kids deserve the best, and we’re gonna keep working on that,” Hall said during the meeting.