student privacy

NY Daily News, NYC school officials were warned of cybersecurity flaws weeks before attack on student data, July 9, 2023; https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/ny-state-comptroller-warned-schools-of-cybersecurity-issues-before-nyc-breach-20230709-5nxdgo724rg3fi5mvpbt7lrzy4-story.html •

Audit from the Office of the State Comptroller, Privacy and Security of Student Data, May 2023;  https://www.osc.state.ny.us/files/state-agencies/audits/pdf/sga-2023-21s29.pdf

To contact the State Comptroller's State Government Accountability office with concerns about NYSED and/or NYC lack of compliance with the state student privacy law; contact Audit Director: Nadine Morrell;  Phone: (518) 474-3271 Email: StateGovernmentAccountability@osc.ny.gov

The Journal,  K–12 Ransomware Attacks Rose 43% in 2022, Encryption Used More Often, Survey Shows, June 8. 2023; https://thejournal.com/articles/2023/06/08/k12-ransomware-attacks-rose-43-percent-in-2022-encryption-used-more-often.aspx

Sophos, The State of Ransomware 2023; https://assets.sophos.com/X24WTUEQ/at/c949g7693gsnjh9rb9gr8/sophos-state-of-ransomware-2023-wp.pdf

EdSurge, Student Privacy Is at More Risk Than Ever Before. Can K-12 Schools Keep It Safe? April, 17, 2023; https://www.edsurge.com/news/2023-04-17-student-privacy-is-at-more-risk-than-ever-before-can-k-12-schools-keep-it-safe

 74 Interview: Cybersecurity Expert Doug Levin on the Harms of Student Data Hacks, May 31, 2022; https://www.the74million.org/article/74-interview-cybersecurity-expert-levin-on-the-harms-of-student-data-hacks/

 K12 Security Information Exchange (K12 SIX). “The State of K-12 Cybersecurity: Year in Review – 2022 Annual Report.” https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e441b46adfb340b05008fe7/t/6228bfe3f412c818293e16e1/1646837732368/StateofK12Cybersecurity2022.pdf

 EdWeek Market Brief: K-12 Dealmaking: Frontline Acquired for $3.7B; Illuminate Education Bought by Renaissance; https://marketbrief.edweek.org/marketplace-k-12/k-12-dealmaking-frontline-acquired-3-7b-illuminate-bought-renaissance/

Resources on state education aid:

• AQE 2021 Budget Testimony and Side by Side Analysis of Executive Budget
• AQE Report: The State's Responsibility to Protect Our Students
• Invest in Our NY revenue proposals

Resources on student data privacy and security:

• Parent survey from the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy
• FBI/CISA recent warning about rise in ransomware attacks on K12 schools and ZDnet article about this.
• FBI warning in 2018 to parents warning how student data could be used to extort and threaten students.
• 2019 Letter from US Senators asking ed tech companies to explain how they collect and use student data
• NY Times op-ed by Shoshana Zuboff on tech surveillance and epistemic inequality
• 5 principles that policies and laws should incorporate to protect student privacy from the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy
• Bibliography on problems with online proctoring
• Parent Toolkit to Protect Student Privacy

Alliance for Quality Education report: Set Up to Fail: How Cuomo’s School Cuts Target New York’s Black & Brown Students 
For more information on AQE’s planned 9/12/20 actions on school funding, contact  Maria@aqeny.org  

News on Albany school cuts  and Schenectady layoffs 

Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood’s statement urging schools to minimize screen time and ed tech 
Also: CCFC petition on this issue and an article on the subject

The Parent Toolkit for Student Privacy, created by CCFC and the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy 

Chad Marlow, Those “Free” Remote Learning Apps Have a High Cost: Your Student’s Privacy   

Educator Toolkit for Student and Teacher Privacy 

Parent Toolkit for Student Privacy 

Cheri Kiesecker on how to check the settings for your child’s Google classroom/Gsuite account  

Jared and Dani are back with another Learn @ Home episode of UEN Homeroom.  This week we are discussing what distance learning looks like with Cody Spendlove, Edtech Director of Alpine School District.   As part of our conversation we talk about how to provide devices to a district with 80,000 students, how to keep kids safe online while working from home, and the best practices teachers are using to engage students in an online learning environment.

The Council of School Supervisors and Administrators website

Among the issues we discussed:

Mayor de Blasio's delay in closing schools    

...despite the advice of many scientists

NYC Department of Education (DOE) cancellation of Zoom  amid serious privacy concerns

The NY state and NYC decision to eliminate school spring break

DOE's refusal to release educator and school staff health and mortality data amid the Coronavirus pandemic

Illinois Families for Public School: https://www.ilfps.org/

Links to articles on the federal class action lawsuit:

https://www.studentprivacymatters.org/federal-class-action-lawsuit-filed-vs-college-boards-predatory-practices/

https://loevy-content-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/12/1.-Complaint.pdf 

More on the proposal of NY State education department to allow for the selling of student data and its use for marketing purposes here.  Here's a sample message if you'd like to provide a comment to the State about this proposal, with a deadline for comment of Sept. 16.

Here's the copy of the report of the School Diversity Advisory Committee.