Jonathan Pelto reports that Steven Harding, a Republican legislator, has proposed legislation to roll back Connecticut’s Student Privacy Act.
When it comes the Connecticut General Assembly and education policy, one of the most important developments was the passage, last year, of a new Connecticut Student Data Privacy Act that requires school districts to institute reasonable safeguards when selling, sharing or providing outside entities access to student information, student records, or student-generated content.
Without this law, many school districts had failed to adopted appropriate policies associated with contracts between school districts and corporations that are interested in collecting, buying, selling or using what should obviously be confidential student data.
Now, in an astonishing, baffling and extremely disturbing move, State Representative Stephen Harding (R-107th District) has introduced legislation (HB 5233) to repeal this important law (Public Act 16-189)
Why would he do this? Did he get a contribution from Bill Gates or Booz Allen Hamilton or some other corporate group that wants to data mine children?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
posted Pelto’s article itself http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Republican-legislator-intr-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Billionaires_Collecting_Corpocracy_Data-Mining-170107-290.html#comment638385
The unethical behavior of the GOP is going to lead the news this year, as these charlatans follow the lead of the liar in chief, a a fascist authoritarian that changes reality daily.
OMG! TERRIBLE. Pretty soon those spies and lurkers who mine data will know when we use the bathroom.
Not a matter of “will”.
Dwell time will be recorded as well, along with sentiment analytics for any sounds produced.
Funding is the real issue here. The law (PA 16-189) was passed and went into effect on Oct. 1, 2016, but it didn’t include financial support for the districts in regards to implementation. Couple that with an extremely large state budget deficit in Connecticut, and now you see why there is push back. There is another bill, HB 5227 (http://linkis.com/legiscan.com/CT/bill/tG8GE), that was also introduced yesterday, that is seeking to delay (not repeal) the implementation of PA 16-189, giving districts more time to get their proverbial ducks in a row. So don’t be fooled here, its not that CT educators, administrators & legislators don’t want to protect student privacy, it’s that there isn’t designated funding to support the effort.
What exactly is the cost for a district? Most of the burden is on the vendors. Additionally, this law took two rounds of legislation before it was approved so it is no surprise to the districts unless they weren’t paying attention.
Let’s say we “delay” the endless interruption of technology products and services purchased by districts, most with little proof of efficacy, and let teachers go back to teaching children, while the other adults figure out how to do the right thing, which is to protect children.
And funding would not be an issue if districts/legislators “delayed” the hundreds of other mandates being imposed on schools, many of which are unproven or unnecessary. This law protects the future privacy of children. Even adults get that protection, why shouldn’t children?
Katie is a vendor. Beware.
There are a myriad of costs associated with protecting student data privacy.
In order to truly ensure student data is, indeed, safe, private and protected, online technologies need to be thoroughly vetted, inventoried and maintained. These efforts require valuable time and resources. In the case of Connecticut, PA 16-189 is the strictest student privacy law in the nation putting the onus also on the districts to be accountable. This costs time, energy and money, all of which are in short supply.
Katie,
Did you disclose your financial interest?
Diane, yes I did… (Please see my response to your other call-out below.)
My true interests lie in protecting the PII of my elementary school-aged kids. We launched our company (www.educationframework.com) to help ensure other kids around the nation are protected too. Our revenue comes from our partner districts who need/want help with managing their student data privacy obligations. That said, we live, eat and breath student data privacy, and have been working extensively with the state of Connecticut regarding this new legislation, so I was simply sharing what information I had on the subject.
Are you saying districts have already contracted for programs whose puchase prices were based on vendors being able to sell private student info to third parties? Does ‘getting their ducks in a row’ mean pulling out of the contracts, &/or paying to have the programs re-tooled to meet the law?
No, I am not. I simply meant that districts are looking for more time to find ways to support and implement this effort amidst an unprecedented budget deficit. (Please see my cost comment above)
This is happening on Obama’s watch so don’t just bash the GOP. I think as most both parties are corrupt. My Son has been in the Naval Cadet programs for the last two years and had plans for the Navel Academy. He took some test at his HS and the freaking recruiters started playing nice on facebook, etc with him.
I had one freaking Marine show up at the front door saying he requested info. I asked my son if he had and he said NO, just took the CaAsapp test or WTF it’s called. Army recruiters are notorious the worst BS artists to get these kids in. They prey on the 17-18 kids and promise them what the kids want to hear and once they sign, they are Fkd.
I called the school and they said if you pull the kids off the privacy thing the colleges will not be able to see them. It’s collusion with the government to suck the youth into this BS war machine that the USA has been running for the last 16 years.
Ah, that NATIONAL DATABASE theory, so heavily pushed and practiced by Arne Duncan who hoped for a future when we could consistently track ALL children from “kindergarten through college….”
Not just a theory.
Cradle to Grave
Quotes from the fictional novel, The Circle, by David Eggers, about a powerful internet company and our society’s obsessions with sharing and social media.
“The crew has been working to coordinate all student measurements-to make sure all homework, reading, attendance and test scores are all kept in one unified database. They’re almost there. We’re inches away from the moment when, by the time a student is ready for college, we have a complete knowledge of everything a student has learned. Every word they read, every word they looked up, every sentence they highlighted, every equation they wrote. Every answer and correction. The guesswork of knowing where all students stand and what they know will be over.”
“What was 1984? It was, as many have noticed, a warning: a warning about the future of human freedom in a world where political organization and technology can manufacture power in dimensions that would have stunned the imaginations of earlier ages” “It (1984) was a novelistic essay on power, how it is acquired and maintained, how those who seek it or seek to keep it tend to sacrifice anything and everything in its name.”
Walter Cronkite, 1984 preface
Diane. This is happening because of HR1381 that was signed into law by Obama in March 2016. This bill created the Evidence Based Policy Making Committee. They have had 2 meetings. I have listened to both meetings. They are basically trying to come up with ways to change law and create the national database which would include student level PII data on our children. Today (so they say) this is against the law. Now they want to make it easier to get the data from the states. Basically get rid of all the red tape and just have everything go directly to one repository at the federal level. THIS is the reason why they MUST have national standards. They don’t care about good education they only care about how they can get the data they want to change the values, attitudes and behaviors of all children now and in the future. They will also use this data to determine who can go to college and who cannot. And to assign future employment paths based on this data and the needs of the global economy. We can break this system. But it will take parents willing to pull their kids out of the system or to take action within their school for their own children. Like, refusing ALL surveys, no high stakes tests, NO DIGITAL platform. Demand live teachers, pen and paper tests, books. NO COMPUTER. In a very short time frame (they are testing this in TX right now) all children will have a chrome book, they will replace instruction from a live teacher with the chrome book and the child will be tested all day, everyday!!!! Time to STARVE THE BEAST!!!
This law was unanimously supported by both Republicans and Democrats. So the real question is not about political party, but rather personal gain. Who benefits from not having children’s data protected????
Good question. Meanwhile the elitists place their offspring in the government indoctrination community centers. Why not ?
Katie,
I appreciate your comments on the effort to repeal CT’s student privacy act, but you should disclose your connection to this firm: https://www.educationframework.com
Diane, gladly!
My company, Education Framework Inc., specializes in protecting student data privacy in schools and districts across the nation. https://www.educationframework.com
We help educators and administrators better understand what online technologies (apps & websites) are being used in the classroom, and whether they are safe for use by students.
We thoroughly assess the online technologies BEFORE they are put into the hands of students, ensuring that their personal data is safe, private and protected. More importantly, we help schools make improvements by getting out in front of the issue and proactively managing their privacy obligations with transparency & accountability.
We launched the company in late 2013 to help schools better understand the privacy and safety of the online technologies being used in the classroom. We did so because we have young children, and we wanted to ensure that they were being protected. We figured every other parent in the world would probably want the same.
My company works for parents, like you, that want to protect student data privacy.