Gary Stern reports on the situation in New York With a rare level of urgency, school officials are scrambling to keep extensive student records out of a privately run database that is a key part of the state’s reform agenda. Local officials, once again at odds with the state Education Department, have grave concerns about…
Category: Youth & Schools
A stronger ‘online eraser’ law would be a mistake
Woodrow Hartzog has an opinion piece in the New Scientist about California’s new “online eraser law,” SB-568. The law gives minors under the age of 18 some limited rights to delete personal information that they had posted online or on a mobile app. The key word here is “limited,” as the right is not absolute….
Privacy advocates raise concerns about driver’s license scanning for people visiting schools
Karen Ann Cullotta report: When a trio of privacy rights activists dropped by a Wilmette School District 39 board of education meeting, they told officials that installing a security system that requires visitors to swipe their driver’s license before entering school buildings could prove both invasive and unconstitutional. A school district spokeswoman said officials plan…
More districts opt out of Race to the Top but NYSED insists their personal student data will “travel” anyway — without their consent
Student privacy advocate and activist Leonie Haimson writes (emphasis added by me): There’s a good article in today’s Buffalo News, about at least two more NY school districts upstate, Williamsville and West Seneca, that have decided to turndown Race to the Top funds to try to protect their students’ privacy, joining the growing list of suburban districts that have already announced…