The newspaper’s review of email records indicates the school district’s superintendent, John Stewart, was unaware of the program’s existence until it was too late. Ann Marshall, a safe schools specialist assigned to the superintendent’s office, promoted the program to several school principals, telling one the district would be able to track students “with a blink of the eye” using the new technology.

Marshall did not respond to one principal’s question about whether the district would be contacting parents about the program.

“It was almost a comedy of errors,” Wes Bridges, the school board’s attorney, told The Ledger.