Let me set the stage: Public schools are Government schools – a near-monopoly in the K-12 education space and one can see, by the actions of Selfish Socialist (and bigot) Andru Volinsky, Government and its supporters on the Left (like teachers unions) aren’t about to give that up without a fight.
NH Constitution:
[Art.] 2-b. [Right of Privacy.] An individual’s right to live free from governmental intrusion in private or personal information is natural, essential, and inherent.
December 5, 2018
Schools are not just “education” – they are a political Power source and the Left aims to keep it that way.
And as Grokster Ann Marie pointed out, these Government schools are now conducting wide-spread surveillance activities on their students.
I’m filing a 91-a request for information.
I had a lengthy discussion with Marc Kirsch who is a sales representative for the DESSA [Social Emotional Learning Assessment tool] screening tool. He acknowledged that the DESSA is a psychological evaluation used in some New Hampshire Schools. In addition, Plymouth State University was collecting this highly sensitive student data and offering the DESSA program free of charge to schools that participated. Since then I’ve heard from New Hampshire parents and teachers in other districts who’ve raised numerous concerns to the point where they are not comfortable with these kinds of psychological evaluations.
“Their students” – as you know, I have been, for years, documenting the slow-rolling (but now speeding up) process by which those students are no longer considered to be YOUR children but THEIRS. This is a dangerous precedent that most parents and taxpayers have not Clue One; their kids and their lab rats, all in one. All in the name of “Safety”. Or as Gov Sunono puts it “Public Safety trumps everything else”. Er, not so.
So, I decided to follow in the same path as Ann Marie and do the same of my School District:
—– Original Message ——
From: “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>
To: “cmcdonough@sau73.org” <cmcdonough@sau73.org>; “Gretchen Gandini” <ggandini@sau73.org>; kthurston@sau73.org; jonos@sau73.org; ksanborn@sau73.org
Sent: 6/24/2020 9:09:33 PM
Subject: RSA 91-A Right To Know demand – student and personal data
Consider this email to be a formal RSA 91:A Right To Know (“RTK”) demand.
Many School Districts are now employing social-emotional learning software (e.g., DESSA):
1) is SAU73 utilizing such software either directly (deployed within the district) or indirect basis (e.g., a “subscription” Saas or Software As A Service)?
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- If so, have Parents been notified that such tools ( manual or software) are in use? Or are they in continuous usage during the school year?
- If so, are Parents notified when such testing by these systems is to be deployed?
- If so, are you supporting the Parents’ Rights to opt-out of such testing?
- If so, is this data shared continuously with Parents?
- If so, is this data shared with external “partners (e.g., either external vendors or consultants, or other academic entities such as Plymouth State University or University of NH) either for free or on a paid basis? If so, what are the GL Account line items that are receiving these funds?
- If so, and if multiple partners, provide the names of those partners and if paid, summarize payments over the last two fiscal years for each partner
- If so, are Parents notified of this being done or is this being done without their knowledge?
- If the latter, where does the SAU have the Power to not notify Parents (the ultimate employers of those in the SAU)?
Supply all contracts and communications (in any and all forms/formats) within the District and outside consultants/vendors/academic entities if the District is doing such testing/research on its students and their families.
2) Many School Districts are now employing social media surveillance systems (software and/or human-curated) of their students (and sometimes, staff); an example is Social Sentinel (other offerings exist)
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- If so, have Parents been notified that such tools ( manual or software) are in use? Or are they in continuous usage during the school year?
- If so, are Parents notified when such testing by these systems is to be deployed?
- If so, are you supporting the Parents’ Rights to opt-out of such testing?
- If so, is this data shared continuously with Parents?
- If so, is this data shared with external “partners (e.g., either external vendors or consultants, or other academic entities such as Plymouth State University or University of NH) either for free or on a paid basis? If so, what are the GL Account line items that are receiving these funds?
- If so, and if multiple partners, provide the names of those partners and if paid, summarize payments over the last two fiscal years for each partner
- If so, are Parents notified of this being done or is this being done without their knowledge?
- If the latter, where does the SAU have the Power to not notify Parents (the ultimate employers of those in the SAU)?
For both questions, list the Policies that mention these types of surveillance. In all cases, list the underlying RSAs that give such Powers to the District to surveil students or parents electronically (e.g., on social media or other such environments) that are not School Property. Merely stating “For safety purposes” is insufficient (no matter what the reason.
IF such systems are being employed by the District, what have the training costs been for the District (and the GL line item(s) used to received this cost)?
3) Being the adoptive Parents for our Grandson, provide all data that has been collected on him, on our family, and provide a list of any and all external entities that have been given our information (either for free or for payment; denoting which is required). If such has happened thus far during his IEP time periods, what is the opt-out processes for each data acquisition entity being used (and there had better be an opt-out process for each REGARDLESS of any privacy contract between the SAU and any of its vendors / contractors)?
4) Speaking of Privacy Contracts – list all entities with which the District has such agreements and provide those Contracts. If the District refuses, list the specific clauses of RSA 91:A that allegedly protects such privacy.
Clock starts ticking tomorrow morning.
-Skip
Co-Founder, owner
GraniteGrok.com
Indeed, the clock starts ticking – RSA 91-A mandates a response concerning “responsive records” in 5 business days.
I will say that the Gilford School Board hasn’t liked being formally challenged. As longer-term readers know, I started a series of Right to Know demands on which RSA granted them the power to grant a new Individual Right that would mandate others to use specific pronouns in addressing them (or in talking about them with others). To wit: Government stripping Free Speech from citizens and commanding Free Citizens to use only Government approved language when addressing those suffering from gender dysphoria (Policy JBAB, Section C on “Transgender and non-conforming students”.
I ended up having to threaten to take them to Superior Court for not answering any of my Right To Knows and my statements during the Public Sessions during School Board meetings. I was finally told by one of the School Board members at one of their Policy meetings that she took quite the umbrage of my threatening her and the Board in taking them to court. My quick response is that I was threatened by a part of Government that refused to follow the Law – and that Law specifically gave me the Right to sue their butts.
And yes, I made sure to make sure that “read the riot act to them” part of RSA 91-A could make them PERSONALLY responsible for up to a $2,000 penalty if the Judge believed they were part of a conspiracy in NOT responding to the RTKs. The Law doesn’t CARE if they “feel” threatened – it’s not about emotions and it’s not about their feelings.
It’s about doing their jobs in an open and transparent manner.
Shortly after that exchange, Section C was effectively removed. Moral of the story:
Know the laws (and you’ll probably know it better than the School Board. Heck, you’ll probably end up knowing it better than the scummy lawyers they use who know that most people won’t take the step to sue – the “do you know what I am” offensive technique).
Government has Powers but in NH, subsections of Government, like a School Board, only have Powers that the Legislature has given them.
Challenge them that they DO have the Powers they say they do. Like in Policy JBAB, they may just be blowing smoke.
Most important, be willing to show up and be willing to be persistent. Being better prepared is also helpful.
And in the Policy JBAB, being able to call out the Educational system in doing a lousy job in both KNOWING and teaching proper Civics was a big plus. All they could do is sit there and take it for they had no answers to my questioning about their teaching. Kinda insulting them about this hole in front of the high school students that were there was both a plus but a source of real sadness.
So it will be interesting on how this shakes out this time
To Be Continued…
