A timely reminder From EPIC:
Education New York, a leading student privacy rights organization, is urging students and parents to opt-out of the use of educational records for marketing purposes. The data typically includes name, address, telephone number, birth date, and other personal information in student records. Education New York’s founder Sheila Kaplan stated, “I’m thrilled that with greater awareness of the issues, more parents have been joining the fight for students’ privacy rights.” EPIC has long supported stronger privacy protections for student records. In 2012, EPIC sued the Education Department concerning changes to the student privacy law. Earlier this year, EPIC a hosted panel in Washington DC with Senator Ed Markey, “Failing Grade: Education Records and Student Privacy.” For more information, see EPIC v. the Department of Education and EPIC: Student Privacy.
If you haven’t signed your child’s school’s opt-out form yet, do so. You can read more about this on Education New York’s site.
In the near future, EPIC will be releasing more of the responses they received to their FOI request on FERPA complaints and the Education Department’s responses.