Kade Crockford of ACLU in Massachusetts has an eye-opening piece about how lack of strong public records law in Massachusetts is making it even harder for parents and advocates to find out school district policies concerning the collection, storage, and sharing of student information.
Last year, they sent out a survey, requesting information from 35 Massachusetts schools. Kade writes:
What is truly troubling is that seven districts — a full 20 percent of those surveyed — did not release the requested records.
Three municipalities — Barnstable, Lynnfield and Pittsfield — effectively ignored our records requests altogether. Taking a different tack, the communities of Newton, Lexington and Waltham demanded exorbitant fees ranging from $1,020 to $5,800.
Read more on Boston Herald.