UnitED For Florida Children

Why aren’t parents asked for permission to release their children’s personal information?

(Part two of a two-part blog. Click here for Part one.).

Upon giving their children’s personal information to their doctor, parents are required to sign that they have read the HIPAA regulations.  Upon opening a bank account, adults are required to receive information “to make informed decisions about their accounts at depository institutions through the use of uniform disclosures.” In just about any business agreement, you are required to sign an agreement stating that you are aware of the rules and regulations. YET, parents are not being supplied with the same consideration regarding the online services their children are participating in. Children’s personal data is being shared with corporate vendors (3rd party sources).

To understand the complexity of how schools, districts, states and the US Department of Education will be using our children’s data, I strongly urge you to read and watch the links I have posted below. In the very near future, predictive data will be used to determine placement for children regarding AP classes and remediation, and predicting college and career readiness. How will they do this? Look no further than Knewton’s Datapalooza here, here and from the US Department of Education. Real time data will be collected on an ongoing basis continually assessing student knowledge, so there will be no need for a test at the end of the year. You may be thinking that this is great! We are finally headed in the right direction to get rid of high stakes tests, but wait, there’s more.

Here is a video that was featured on 60 minutes regarding Data Brokers.  Now, with Florida’s Digital Classroom plan,  we can expect that online learning will be the new norm. We as parents have the right to know the following information regarding our children’s sensitive private information (pii) that is being shared without our consent or knowledge. We, as parents, are entitled to know who has access to it, what it is being used for, and especially what kind of information is being shared without our knowledge or consent.

Check out all the information being collected on our kids already.  Here are some other ways in which your child’s data may be compromised.

You may already know about the SLDS (Statewide Longitudinal Data System) Florida is using. Florida’s Student Information System (SIS) is located on the FLDOE website. It includes an extensive list of all the data Florida is capturing on our kids.

This is enough to make any parent cringe. Here is a list of questions we may consider asking our schools and districts.

1. What 3rd party vendors are being used for our children’s education?
2. What information is being collected and for what purpose?
3. Who has access to this information?
4. What is the vendor’s privacy policy and terms of use?
5. What is the district doing to protect our children’s private data?
6. Can you please show me the data that has already been collected on my child so I can make sure that it is accurate?

How will we know where our children’s data ends up? And when we find out, will it be too late?

We are in the midst of a parent evolution of becoming better informed and more involved. The more questions we ask, and the more we stand together for our children’s rights, the more influential we will be. Will you join us?

Sincerely,
Laura Oosse McCrary
Co-Founder of United for Florida Children

“It is better to walk alone than with a crowd going in the wrong direction.” ~Author unknown

With contributions from Cheri Kiesecker, Megan Hendricks, and Heide Janshon