Wednesday, April 24, 2024 | St. Lawrence County, NY
To the Editor If you haven’t heard of inBloom, Inc. and the student (and teacher) privacy risks that are being widely discussed across NYS, then it’s time to do some homework. I received a call …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active, online-only subscription then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
To the Editor
If you haven’t heard of inBloom, Inc. and the student (and teacher) privacy risks that are being widely discussed across NYS, then it’s time to do some homework. I received a call from an alarmed teacher who asked me what I know about inBloom. As an education blogger, I had written about this issue a few months ago. See: http://thissideofthetable.blogspot.com/2013/04/student-privacy-who-will-get-all.html
The NYS Commissioner of Education and Board of Regents have approved the release of personally identifiable student and teacher data (by school districts) to inBloom where such information will be stored in a data cloud that inBloom is not guaranteeing as secure.
What information will inBloom collect? Student names, grades, test scores, detailed disciplinary and health records, race/ethnicity, economic and disability status. Teachers should also be concerned. Confidential information about them will also be shared – like social security numbers, addresses, and some private personnel information. “inBloom, Inc. plans to share data, with district consent (not parental consent), with for-profit companies to help them develop and market ‘learning products.’”
School districts have been encouraged to have public forums about this matter in order to “ensure public engagement” and to keep the public well informed – though I haven’t heard of any going on. Teacher, principal, parent, and community groups are all lobbying the State Education Dept., the Board of Regents, the Assembly, and the Senate to address the student privacy issues inherent in this deal with inBloom, Inc.
The NYS Assembly just passed a student privacy bill (A7872). I called Sen. Flanagan’s office today (631-361-2154) to urge him, as Education Chair to pass this Student Privacy bill in the Senate. His secretary told me there are currently no sponsors in the Senate. Maybe the public can weigh in and call Senator Skelos (518-455-3171) and Senator Klein (718-822-2049) and Sen. Flanagan. It’s also time to find out what your school district is doing.
There will be an upcoming series of articles about student privacy on This Side of the Table (thissideofthetable.blogspot.com).
Ann Martin Carvill, Potsdam
