Katy Citizen Watchdog$

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Tracking Your Child

 

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Efforts to  keep tabs on your child appear every day in all sorts of places.  However, the “place” that concerns me most is the public school that your child attends.  A parent has  a right to know about all the information that is collected on or about his child.  The Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) [http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html]

grants parents certain rights and privileges, and parents should make themselves aware of these rights.

 

Previously, I have suggested that it might be a good idea for parents to review the contents of the school district’s Permanent Record File on one’s child, especially when the child changes schools, so as to view and correct, if necessary, any misinformation that appears there.

 

It is possible to enter a counter statement to anything with which the parent disagrees (after a hearing!) and erroneous information can also be removed from the file with proof.

 

Unfortunately, in my mind, public schools in Texas and elsewhere are compiling data files in data bases that collect more than just the usual information on a child.  The collection would appear to be excessive and an invasion of a child’s and his family’s privacy. Be clear about what I am stating as I know the law is allowing the collection of this data, but the excessiveness is the issue. Relevancy as to what schools do with students’ information is also an issue.  If the school is supposed to educate, then why is there a need to know about so much extraneous information that has nothing to do with  education? When I was a teacher many years ago, we took each child as he appeared at the schoolhouse door, and accepted him for who he was.  His extraneous baggage had no bearing on what he could or would choose to learn. My job as the teacher was to present appropriate factual knowledge that served the subject matter he needed to learn in the most interesting manner I could muster, and his job, regardless of everything that might be hindering him, was to learn it!

 

FERPA says that “school officials with legitimate educational interest” may access your child’s records.  The problem is with the definition of “legitimate educational interest.”  While I might define that phrase as applying to a teacher of my child who wanted to know his past test scores, or what courses he might have taken prior to taking the current one, the government has expanded that “need to know” and the information that might be

‘needed,” to include all sorts of busybody information. 

 

I would maintain that my child’s “health” matters are really none of the teacher’s business, unless I choose to tell her about them.  The teacher should not be able to just get on line and find that out.  Read the list.  It is unbelievable what they want to know about your child and what information they have access to. I should point out that I am not opposed to a teacher’s being able to see a student’s current and previous grades as well as a phone number to reach his parents.  It is also OK but probably not especially necessary for parents to view ongoing grades during a semester.  Parents who are interested in their children’s progress are already monitoring homework and graded papers and tests. It is not OK for every administrator who is curious to look at the information.

 

Unless the parent tells them not to, schools can release all sorts of “directory” information to the public.  Parents need to carefully think about this matter and step up to give or not give permission for its release.

 

All states are implementing a new, permanent state student identification number to track pupils from kindergarten through the 12^th grade.  Students receive a random twelve digit number for tracking purposes.

 

Most school districts have used identifier numbers for years--many of them in the past using Social Security numbers for that purpose, but the new state issued ID is relatively new.

 

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)  [http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000343rev] a governmental agency organized under the Federal Department of Education that drives the expanded interest in student data, provides schools with copies of the ‘Student Data Handbook.’  Parents can quickly see that there is nothing about your child or your family that these people cannot collect! They can maintain records on your child’s personal information, enrollment, school participation and activities, non-school and post-school experience, assessment, transportation, health conditions, special program participation and student support services, discipline matters and family income.  For example just the “personal information” on a child’s name can include all of the following bits of information:  first name, middle name, last/surname, generation code, suffix, personal title (prefix), alias, former legal name, last/surname at birth, nickname, tribal or clan name, name of individual and name of institution!  It gets worse when you move to the “address.”  Parents HAVE to look at this document to understand the gravity of what I am saying here.

 

Teachers too often go along with this “need to know,” but I wonder if the teachers realize that the government also is building databases of THEIR personal information and have been doing so for over ten years.  See  [http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2001305]

See also http://nces.ed.gov/programs/quarterly/vol_3/3_2?q2-9.asp

According to the NCES site, “The Staff Data Handbook was developed to provide guidance concerning the consistent maintenance of staff information. This handbook defines data elements and definitions describing personal information, educational experiences, qualification information, current employment, assignment, evaluation and career development, and separation from employment.”

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2001305

Look at pp. 136 and following to see how extensive their intrusion is into teachers’ lives!

 

Recently several newspaper articles as well as on line information services have noted the insecurity of these personal information data bases.  Most of us recall the pilfering by hackers of the University of Texas student data base earlier this year.  We also hear such information regularly about similar problems all over our country. As a matter of fact, nearly 91 million data records of U.S. residents have been exposed due to security breaches since February 2005. (See http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/ChronDataBreaches.htm  for a listing.)

 

As recently as July 6, 2006, the Houston Chronicle reported on a hacker who cracked the secret code of the FBI’s classified computer system and gained the passwords of 38,000 employees, including that of FBI Director Robert Mueller!  This hacker gained access to records in the Witness Protection Program and details on counterespionage activity. To correct the intrusion, the FBI was forced to shut down its network and commit thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars to ensure that no sensitive information was lost or misused.  The hacker was not charged with intentional harm--but what if he had been up to no good?

 

eSchool News Online, which tracks electronic information stories of an educational nature, on August 14, 2006 highlighted the problem for many American colleges and universities.  The story noted that 100,000 students, faculty, and alumni were compromised by hackers who obtained Social Security numbers at Ohio University, 1,000 people at the University of Delaware sustained the same fate, as well similar numbers at the University of Kentucky (6,500 students and alumni), Kent State, Miami, Colorado, Cleveland State, the Ohio State University Medical Center, Boston College, George Mason University and the University of California at Berkeley.

 

Two Ohio University students have sued the University regarding the intrusion into their personal information.

 

The Katy School District last spring, right before the School Board election, announced that they had hired C Innovation, Inc. to implement Zangle, a student information tracking system to be used  to collect your child’s information in a data base maintained by the Katy School District.  The School District is also suggesting that even more money (see current bond proposals) be devoted to this software system (we are not sure why they need more money for something they already have, but hey!)  In the August 13, 2006 edition of the Katy Times, an amount of $4,952,000 is suggested as a “bond consideration” for a “student info warehouse/assessment database.”

 

If one missed Peyton Wolcott’s expose’ of Zangle which she wrote in April, 2006, he can access it using the following Internet address so that he will be up to speed:

http://www.peytonwolcott.com/commentary042106-050306.html

Mrs. Wolcott chose to report information regarding Xpediant, Zangle and C Innovation, Inc.’s corporate dealings and background to the public. As is often the case, Mrs. Wolcott’s accurate portrayal of matters stems from her desire to inform the public regarding how their tax dollars are being spent. Mrs. Wolcott and I both question using tax dollars to buy copyrighted software when so much money is being spent for technology personnel who should be quite capable of writing software that captures a list of data items. Why is Xpediant not providing us with a student information system?  Are we duplicating efforts here?

 

What I want to know with regard to Zangle is which other student information systems were considered?  (See www.google.com:  search “student information systems”) Was there a bidding process since the amount being spent is getting up there?  Other than that they managed to capture the imagination of our district’s administrators, what is there about C Innovation, Inc. that qualifies them to manage this sensitive information? What were their references?  What other school districts (more than one, please) use them?  I would suggest that Zangle might not be the software of choice for a school district that wants a mainstream product.

 

The software system, however, is secondary among my concerns related to this subject.  My major concern is the safety of the information that Katy ISD is collecting on our children and our families.  Think about who is going to have access to this information.  Think about what they intend to do with it.  Think about who is in charge of maintaining the security of that information. Those are important considerations.  Of just as much concern is how SAFE is your child’s and your family’s information?  Does anyone think that the IT department at Katy ISD has the ability to thwart a proficient hacker who might want to gain information about you or your child? Anyone who does think so is suggesting that somehow the KISD IT employees are more capable than similar employees at most of America’s major universities and the FBI!

 

When you  send little Connor and Kaitlyn off to school this fall, think about what our public school system knows about them and your family. Think too about how all of that information could make it’s way to someplace you really had not intended. Think about how long such information may be around and what it might be used for. Ask yourself WHY our governments need to know so much about your child and his parents. After you have asked all these questions, ask yourself when exactly this matter was discussed in a public meeting and who was allowed to make such decisions without your ever being asked for your opinion at all!

 

Perhaps it is time for you to discuss this matter with your favorite School Board member. The School Board is responsible for this potential disaster. The government can give themselves the right to collect this information, but the School Board can refuse to pay for the means to do it.

 

© 2006 by Mary McGarr. All rights reserved

Mary McGarr, Katy Citizen Watchdog$

Date: 08/14/2006