School Data Secrets Exposed
Kindergarten Round-Up approaches - what parents need to know
Now that we have started a new year, parents and teachers start thinking about future events for the duration of the school year. Kindergarten round-up is right around the corner. Many schools start registration around the first of March. There are so many things you need to have prepared, citizenship documentation, physical, vaccine record, and all of the school forms. Most parents don’t read them all, they just sign and keep moving. Let me advise you otherwise.
As a mom of 6, and a grandmother of 8, living in today’s high-tech world, it is on multiple media platforms that data is the “new” oil. Kids are protected though, right? WRONG.
According to Jordan Shapiro, in an article, he wrote for Forbes magazine, which has been fairly well buried unfortunately from 2014, “Your kid’s school may have the right to sell your kid’s data.”, the title says it all.
The wide variety of laws keeps it confusing for lawmakers at the federal and state levels. COPPA, COPA, FERPA, BIPA, HIPAA, and now AADCA, along with a string of others at the state level keep it difficult to follow. Most of these laws imply protection for children and actually, they are referring to their online data. What about the real-time data they create at school? Their choices at lunch, visiting the nurse, what they choose to check out at the library, all of this plus their grades and electronically sourced classwork (how fast they complete an assignment, read a story, accuracy of the online test or homework answers) are in question. FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act make it so schools have the right to do with student data as they choose, with third parties, with or without your consent or consent from the student. Further investigating on my part led me to the U.S. Department of Education website where they admit that schools can sell and trade student data. You may have an option to “opt out” of directory information, but that is completely separate from all other student data.
Shouldn’t we be asking more questions about this? Shouldn’t our kids be afforded the rights of privacy and protection under the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act at the very least until they are 13? At least, AADCA from California considers minors’ privacy and age-appropriate content to the legal adult age of 18. As reported a few weeks ago, “350 K-12 educators were arrested for sex crimes against students”. We need to be more careful about the information shared and available to our schools. We have to be more vigilant and conversational with our children. Now to be entirely fair, there are more than 3 million educators nationwide, so the chances of your child being exposed to one at school are much smaller than when they are online, and the vast majority of educators are incredible people. The difficult issue as well is that teachers know about as much as you do when it comes to what happens to student data created at school. So while many “preventative” articles say “ask the teacher”, be prepared for the answer “I am not sure.” Technology is advancing so quickly that it is hard enough for those in the industry to stay on the edge of discovery and tool advancement.
We need a method that protects our children’s data AND our children in real life. We have to support a solution that empowers their voices to speak up and be heard. We need to be asking the right questions starting at registration, the first day of school, at parent/teacher conferences, back-to-school night, and every opportunity in between, every year. Kids deserve a safe environment in and out of the classroom, with opportunities for growth and independence. We as parents are responsible to be our children’s biggest advocates and cheerleaders in every activity. Educators get more access because they spend more time while our children are awake than we do regularly. We need to intertwine the support net as an overall community to keep our children safe on and offline.
Kids, parents, educators, and community leaders have asked for more protection for minors online, including Joe Biden in last year’s State of the Union address. Last year, Joe Biden called upon technology solutionists to improve security for children online this year during his state of the union address. He pointed to the information derived from last year’s whistleblowing incident at Facebook, owned by Meta. He spoke about children struggling before the pandemic with bullying, violence, trauma, and the harms of social media.
He called for a way to hold social media platforms and other types of corporate internet presence accountable for what he calls the (air-quotes) national experiment they’re conducting on our children for profit. He called for strengthened privacy protections, a ban against targeted advertising towards children, and further demands on tech companies to stop collecting personal data on our children.
Peace of mind is coming. We all deserve to rest a bit easier, knowing kids are safer on and offline, in and out of school.
It all starts with the Kindergarten round-up. We have 30 days until preparation for the next school year starts. Now is the time to gear up for better holistic child/teen protection for the next school year.
My question to you remains, what actions are you taking before registration this year? Keep in mind some states have additional laws that restrict biometric information from being shared stored sold or traded especially for minors under the BIPA act (Biometric Information Protection Act). I strongly suggest you take a good look at your state laws before registration to prepare properly and acclimate now toward the beginning of your child’s digital future.
Support these efforts by following Lisa Manns and AuthentiKid Inc online on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, and Instagram. For more information contact Lisa, CEO of AuthentiKid, Inc via e-mail at lisa@AuthentiKid.com or visit their website at
https://www.AuthentiKid.com
and join our private Facebook group: L.E.A.P. with tech-savvy kids at https://facebook.com/groups/AuthentiKid
Reference links:
https://studentprivacymatters.org/tag/selling-student-data/
https://www.foxnews.com/us/nearly-350-k-12-educators-arrested-child-sex-crimes-2022