From Class Size Matters, Two Ways to Protect Your Child's Privacy

Read about two ways that you can fight the NYS Department of Education's plans to share your child's sensitive information.

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1.       The Diane Ravitch talk tonight at Judson Church is sold out; but we will be live streaming it atwww.stopmotionsolo.tv starting at 6 PM; please be sure to watch.  A nice profile of her is in today’s NY Times. 2.        Districts are being mandated by New York State Education Department (NYSED) to sign up with one of three companies by Sept. 27 that will produce data dashboards, to be populated from the inBloom cloud.  More about that in yesterday’s LoHud article here.  A few districts have opted out of the dashboards; the list of those that are participating (called RTTT districts) and those that are not is here. HOWEVER, even if your district has opted out of the data dashboards, the state is still sharing private information from all the public school students in the state with inBloom, as this DN article makes clear.  According to the state, the data at minimum will include your child’s name, address, grades, test scores, proficiency levels, economic and racial status, as well as highly sensitive disciplinary and disability information.  In addition, the state is encouraging districts to provide even more confidential student data to inBloom and to the vendors producing the dashboards – as well as to other companies that will be providing software “learning tools.” We have two suggestions for what parents can do who are concerned about this issue: ·         First, you should write an e-mail to SED demanding to know what specific data has been shared about your child with what third parties, and over what period. You have this right according to the state’s Personal Privacy Protection Law, and the state is supposed to respond within five working days.  You also have the right to correct any information that might be wrong.  A sample e-mail/ letter is below; but please remember to attach a scanned version of ID, like a driver’s license, to your email or in your letter.  If you don’t hear back in five working days you have the right to appeal directly to the Commissioner.  More about this law is here. ·         If you are in a RTTT district, you should write your District superintendent immediately, and demand that your child’s information not be shared with any vendor or 3rd party, including any of the companies involved in creating the data dashboards.  In its latest missive, the state implies that while it will not encourage districts to allow parents the right to opt out, it is leaving it up to them to decide how they want to handle these requests.  This does NOT mean that your child’s information will be spared from being uploaded into the inBloom cloud, but the less this highly sensitive data is transmitted through the internet to third parties, the less likely it will breach or be used inappropriately. 3.        Please don’t forget to let us know what the class sizes are of your child is this year by filling out our survey here. Sample e-mails to SED and to your district superintendent are below; please keep me in the loop as to how they respond. Thanks, Leonie  Leonie Haimson Class Size Matters 124 Waverly Pl. New York, NY 10011 212-674-7320 follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook  forward to a friend | subscribe to this newsletter Privacy Compliance Officer/ Records Access Officer NY State Education Dept. Albany, NY FOIL@mail.nysed.gov Via e-mail or snail mail 89 Washington Ave, Room 121 EB Albany, NY 12234 Dear Privacy Compliance Officer/Records Access Officer: Under the provisions of the Personal Privacy Protection Law, Article 6-A of the Public Officers Law, I hereby request copies of all the records and data that you have in your possession pertaining to my minor child, [name], as well as the names of entities or organizations to which you have disclosed any such information, including inBloom Inc. My child [name] is in [x grade] in [x school] in [x school district] this year. Last year, s/he attended [x grade] at [x school] in [x district]. Please inform me of all the data/records about my child you have provided to third parties including inBloom Inc. , for as many years as you have provided this data, and the dates of any such disclosures, as required by S. 94 (3) of the Personal Privacy Protection Law. If you have not yet disclosed these records, please let me know when this will occur and what specific data and records of my child you plan to disclose.  If there are any fees for this request, please inform me before you complete the request. If all or any part of this request is denied, please cite the reason(s) which you think justifies your refusal to release the information. As you know, the Personal Privacy Protection Law requires that an agency respond to a request within five business days of its receipt. Also, please inform me of your agency's appeal procedure. In order to expedite consideration of my request, I am attaching a copy of _____ [some document of identification, like a driver’s license]. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Sincerely, Name /e-mail/phone/street address/ Town or city/ zip --- Dear District Superintendent: I am a parent with a child [name] in [x grade] in [name], a district public school. As you are aware, most of the districts in the state have been mandated to sign up with companies that will produce data dashboards populated through the inBloom cloud.  While the State Education Department has written in its latest FAQ,  dated July 29, 2013 that “NYSED is not aware of additional disclosure, notification or opt out requirements for districts supplying data for tools that directly support instruction and program improvement like those currently provided in school districts and those provided in the ENYP,” there is nothing in NYSED’s instructions or the law that would or should stop any district from allowing parents to opt their children’s data out of this scheme, which in my view, puts my child’s privacy and security at risk. Thus, I ask that you abide by my wishes, and ensure that my child’s personal data is not shared with any vendors, including the companies that will be providing the data dashboards. Please let me know if you will respect my request. Yours sincerely, Name, parent of [X child] in [X grade] in [X school]. E-mail, phone, address