Error Gives Thousands of Former Employees Access to Fla. School District

District officials say the problem is the result of a lack of integration between two databases.

An integration problem at a Florida school district allowed 13,000 former employees to use their key cards to gain access to school buildings.

The Orange County School District’s problem was discovered during a recent audit, according to wftv.com.

“When an employee leaves employment with the district or changes status, the system is not notified of that change and no adjustment can be made as a result,” District Director of Security Douglas Trip says.

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The issue arose because the database for the district’s electronic key card system doesn’t integrate with its employee database.

Trip says many former employees returned their cards to district officials when they stopped working there, and no breaches have been recorded.

Still, the problem has some parents concerned about district security.

Trip says 10,000 key cards have been deactivated since the discovery and district officials are working to manually remove other cards individually. A new system has also been installed so that cards are deactivated after 30 days of inactivity.

The Orange County School District employs more than 20,000 instructional and classified employees.

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