Students’ personal info left in closed Houston elementary school
Students’ personal info left in closed Houston elementary school
HOUSTON — If you take a walking tour through the old JFK Elementary School, you might be surprised at what you find.
The Houston Housing Authority invited alumnus John Branch to take a look around.
“We found some trophies,” said Branch, who was only hoping to pull keepsakes and memorabilia out of the soon-to-be demolished property now owned by the HHA.
“I just started to glance at this and start seeing pictures with social security numbers and birthdays and parents’ names and home phone numbers.”
The sensitive documents had apparently been left behind after Houston ISD closed the school in 2011. A private guard patrols through the parking lot now, but Branch says it hasn’t always been that way.
He claims that for the better part of the last three years, there’s been no security at all, and that vagrants literally come and go as they please.
Branch shot cell phone video showing busted out window in the old cafeteria.
“It makes no sense,” said Branch. “Social security. That’s that kid’s life for the rest of their life. These kids may already have credit cards in their names.”
Branch dropped the material off at HISD. KHOU briefly spoke with school board member Rhonda Skillern-Jones.
“I’m going to get someone to receive the stuff and then I’m going to find out what’s going on because I am concerned,” said Jones.
An HISD spokesperson says it appears someone dropped the ball, and that the process for securing closed buildings and disposing of sensitive material is being reevaluated.
Dozens of schools have been shut down in recent years. Branch accuses the district of letting kids down.
“You may not leave a child behind but you’ve left all the information for their life behind,” said Branch.
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