Letter writer concerned about release of California public school students data
Dear Editor:
Every parent with a child that has attended a California school should be aware of this important issue.
On February 1st, Judge Kimberly Mueller ordered that the CA Department of Education release the student records of all students that attended any CA school since January 1, 2008 to the Plaintiffs in the lawsuit Morgan Hill Concerned Parents Association and Concerned Parents Association v. CA Department of Education.
The court ordered that only the parties, their attorneys and consultants and the court would have access to the records and when they were done they would be returned or destroyed. They claim that no student’s identifying records will be disclosed to the public. I do not want my children’s information to be disclosed to some people in Morgan Hill involved in a lawsuit I know nothing about.
We should not be so naïve to think security breaches never happen. We all remember Target or Bank of America. I do not want my children’s information to be disclosed to some people in Morgan Hill involved in a lawsuit I know nothing about.
There is no reason to believe that the security precautions taken here will be any better than those taken by large corporations which have been subject to security breaches.
Examples of information that is stored on CA Department of Educations’s databases and network drives includes name, Social Security number, home address, demographics, course information, statewide assessment results, teacher demographics, program information, behavior and discipline information, progress reports, special education assessment plans, special education assessments/evaluations, Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), records pertaining to health, mental health and medical information, student statewide identifiers (SSID), attendance statistics, information on suspensions and expulsions, and results on state tests.
There is one way to make sure that your child’s information is not included in this and that would be to fill out an opt –out form and mail it to the court by April 1, 2016. The form can be found at http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/di/ws/documents/form2016jan26.pdf
Julie Young
Antioch
Well said, thank you! I would like to take a moment to offer a link to a petition which is asking the CCPA to do the right thing and refuse to accept any files or documents which contains private student information:
https://www.change.org/p/california-concerned-parents-association-ask-the-california-concerned-parents-association-to-refuse-all-private-student-data
Thank you again Julie!