HHS · no agency ID · record R0659

The School Closure Awareness System

Department of Health and Human Services · HHS/CDC

Overview

Development stage: DeployedSource: c) Deployed – The use case is being actively authorized or utilized to support the functions or mission of an agency.
High-impact designation: Not high-impactSource: c) Not high-impact
Impact justification: Not reported
Start date: 2022-11 (month precision)Source: Nov-22
Withheld from public reporting: NoSource: a) No

Mission

Topic area: Emergency Management
Operational functions: No function tag matched Derived by keyword rules; see methodology

Problem the AI is intended to solve

To efficiently and accurately identify and categorize unplanned school closures across the U.S. using publicly available social media data, replacing a costly and labor-intensive manual process.

Expected benefits

The AI system has saved nearly $2 million in contracting fees and reduced human work hours by 200 hours. It enables faster, more comprehensive, and more detailed capture of unplanned school closure data than the previous manual process, supporting CDC’s emergency response and reporting obligations.

System outputs

The system processes Facebook posts from about 40,000 school or district accounts, using a large language model to categorize posts as unplanned school closures (by event type: weather, health, facility, safety) and denote status changes (full closure, virtual, hybrid, early/late dismissal). Outputs are reviewed and recoded by staff every 24 hours.

Technology

AI classification: Natural language processingSource: Natural Language Processing: AI that processes, interprets, and shares information in human language.
System name(s): EDAV (Enterprise Data, Analytics, and Visualization Platform)
Custom-developed code: Yes
Public source code: Not reported

Sourcing

How it was built: Developed in-houseSource: b) Developed in-house
Vendor (as reported): Not reported
Vendors (standardized): None on the standard list

A vendor is the supplier named by the agency. It does not identify the underlying model or AI technology.

Data and privacy

Involves PII: No
Privacy Impact Assessment: Not reported
Authorization to Operate: Yes
Demographic features: k) None of the above
Training and evaluation data: Publicly available Facebook posts from approximately 40,000 school or district accounts.
Federal Data Catalog: Not reported

Governance

0 of 8 minimum-practice questions answered. A blank answer means the agency reported nothing; it does not mean the practice is absent.

Pre-deployment testingNo answer reported

AI impact assessmentNo answer reported

Independent reviewNo answer reported

Ongoing monitoringNo answer reported

Operator trainingNo answer reported

Fail-safeNo answer reported

Appeal processNo answer reported

User and public consultationNo answer reported

Potential impacts and how they were identified

Not reported