No matter where you are politically on the issues of race, gender, sexual identity mental health, etc., there is an enormous amount of data collected on school children right now. Not only are they collecting this sensitive data, but they are also sharing some of this information without the knowledge or consent of parents and guardians.
This is not a request to hide your identity, it’s about what personal and sensitive information you give to the school district.
School administrators are not always bound by the same privacy laws governing other institutions. Sometimes school administrators ignore the laws too.
With remote learning in place, a lot of students are working off of digital devices even though Hackers are leaking children’s data, Google has been sued by New Mexico’s Attorney General for spying on students, and the ACT and College Board sell student personal data. Studentprivacymatters.org is an excellent resource for parents who want to know more about the massive amount of data collection going on in public schools.
Recently I received a short survey from a parent in Nashua. It appears as if students were asked by the teacher what pronoun they wanted the teacher to use in the classroom. Transgender students will sometimes use a different name, and in the past, teachers would handle this as delicately as possible. This can certainly be a challenging situation for the teacher, parents, and students, but those are the people who should all be involved in this decision. There’s no reason to ask an entire classroom full of children for this information.
This survey was created using Google Form. Not only did the teacher question a student on their pronoun preference, but it also sounds like the teacher was going to keep the information from the parents.
Parents should know that the Federal FERPA law allows parents to examine their children’s records.
Many New Hampshire parents were very supportive of the law on non-academic surveys. Some of them spoke in favor of informed consent when children take non-academic surveys because of privacy concerns. Data-security specialists testified before the committees on the lack of security and privacy when these surveys are given to students. They do not want the district collecting this kind of information knowing the data is sold/shared and could be hacked.
In Nashua’s case, I filed a complaint with the New Hampshire Department of Education because no parental permission slip was produced when I asked to see one. Not only were they collecting this data on children, but parents also weren’t aware of it.
No matter where you stand on the political aspects, we should all understand the importance of data security and privacy.
Your child does not give up their fundamental rights when they walk through the doors of your public school.
Article 2-b of the New Hampshire Constitution: “[Right of Privacy.] An individual’s right to live free from governmental intrusion in private or personal information is natural, essential, and inherent.”
Tell your kids NOT to complete these kinds of data collecting surveys. Get a copy of the survey if they failed to ask for your consent, and then send a complaint to the New Hampshire Department of Education. When a few teachers lose their credentials for failing to follow the law, maybe then the word will get out.
