For
immediate release
August 24,
2016
For more
information: Leonie Haimson, leonie@classsizematters.org,
917-435-9329
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The long
overdue appointment announced today by the NY State Education Department of a
Chief Privacy Officer, Temitope Akinyemi, is an important step forward to begin
to enforce the New York student privacy law that was originally passed on March
31, 2014 as part of the state budget, along with the banning of the plan to
share personal student data with inBloom Inc.
Parents are relieved
that more than two years following the July 29, 2014 deadline set by this law,
the NY State Education Department has finally appointed a permanent Chief
Privacy Officer. Yet by that date, the
CPO was also supposed to have developed an expanded Parent Bill of Privacy
Rights, with the input of parents and other stakeholders. Instead, NYSED hurriedly posted a Bill of
Rights two years ago that is incomplete as to existing federal and state privacy
laws – as pointed out by a
letter to then-Commissioner John King in August 2014.
Said Leonie
Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters and co-chair of the national organization,
the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy: “Now that the CPO is appointed, Ms. Akinyemi
should immediately begin to reach out to parents through public hearings to improve
and expand upon the Parent Bill of Rights, to gain their input so that their
children’s privacy and safety can be secured. Parents have already waited too
long for this to occur.”
Parents and
advocates also urge Ms. Akinyemi to appoint a Data Stakeholder Advisory
Panel to oversee the state’s collection and disclosure of personal student data. According to a federal grant
provided to NYSED in 2009, this Panel was supposed to “provide active and
ongoing review by local constituents,” but still does not yet exist – seven
years later.
Added Ms.
Haimson, “Only with robust citizen oversight can we be assured that children’s
personal information will be safeguarded with appropriate restrictions and
protections. We recently learned that the NYSED has decided to reverse their
earlier decision to put the personal data of all public school students in the
State Archives, potentially forever; but this decision should never have been
made in the first place. It reflects a
deficient understanding of federal law and insufficient concern with the right
to privacy that all children should enjoy.”
Allison
White, parent and co-founder, Port Washington Advocates for Public Education,
said: “I hope the CPO will put parental concerns about student privacy and
security ahead of all else. It's time the profits of tech
companies and the greed of those seeking to privatize public education
took a back seat to the concerns of parents seeking to protect children.”
Ms. White’s request for her child’s data last year was improperly denied
initially with a demand for payment by Tina
Sciocchetti, the state’s previous temporary CPO.
“There needs
to be stronger oversight and enforcement of the law,” said Fatima Geidi, NYC
parent, whose child’s disciplinary file was illegally posted online by Eva
Moskowitz, the CEO of his former charter school, in violation of the Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). “We need someone at the state level
who is looking out for the interests of New York families, rather than ignoring
our concerns.”
"The appointment of a Chief Privacy
Officer may bring some sense of student data protection, but until parents have
the right to consent or opt out of the use of their child's individual personal
data beyond the school level, data will continue to be at risk," said Lisa
Rudley, Westchester County public school parent and founding member of NY State
Allies for Public Education.
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