Sunday's article on school data collection in the Kennebec Journal reads like paid advertising for the Department of Education. The subheading for the article says "privacy concerns raised" but you have to dig deep...deep...to find what those concerns are and that's after nearly ten paragraphs about how wonderful student tracking is for all involved.
Here are two of the biggest myths:
- Your data is secure. On the heels of the disclosure of the most significant data breach in Pentagon history, can we really expect the Department of Education to keep sensitive information safe? Please.
- Access to students' Social Security numbers is limited. The Department of Education is going to track students from grades K-12, through college and into the labor force using social security numbers as the link between various databases. Where will this information reside and how much will ultimately be gathered? Just how are social security numbers going to remain out of sight now that they are to be collected in districts across Maine? We don't know. And it's a problem when a program creates more questions than it answers.
The ACLU of MAINE wants parents to understand that this is an
opt-in program (meaning it's voluntary - students and parents do not have to provide social security numbers to public schools even when asked)
and that parents be adequately informed of the opt-in nature and the risks of participation. Unfortunately, the Maine Department of Education doesn't seem to agree.