Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

Privacy concerns in school data plan

By Matthew Stone mstone@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA — Schools will start collecting student Social Security numbers this fall as state education officials develop a data system that tracks students’ progress as they graduate from high school, enroll in college and enter the work force.

But a group is raising concerns that officials might stray from state law and not properly notify parents that they don’t have to supply Social Security numbers to school officials.

The Maine Civil Liberties Union says the language that Maine’s Department of Education is recommending for use in local schools does an inadequate job informing parents of that right.

The group sent a letter June 11 to Acting Education Commissioner Angela Faherty about the concern. In a June 11 reply, Faherty pledged to supply schools with more information to offer parents as the September start of school approaches.

“Just because somebody asks for your Social Security number does not obligate you to turn it over,” said Zachary Heiden, MCLU’s legal director. “We always think it makes sense to ask why.”

At issue is a one-sentence statement the Department of Education offered to local schools telling parents they have the option of withholding their children’s Social Security numbers.

Heiden, however, said the one-sentence statement doesn’t constitute an explanation of parents’ rights. The civil liberties union is suggesting that the statement include language warning parents that they could expose their children to identity-theft risks by sharing their Social Security numbers.

“[A]s students across Maine are hopefully being taught,” Heiden wrote to the Department of Education, “a plain statement is not an explanation.”

Heiden noted the law allowing the Social Security number collection passed only after legislators received assurances that parents’ rights would be explained.

“Hopefully, there’ll be a more full explanation,” he said.

Department of Education spokesman David Connerty-Marin said the one-sentence statement  was simply an advance notice to schools to prepare them to collect Social Security numbers.

Connerty-Marin said state education officials agree with civil liberties advocates that students’ personal data need to be used carefully.

“Clearly, it is possible to protect and use data to improve outcomes,” he said. “We very much share their concerns for safeguarding student privacy and protecting student information.”

The data collection comes as the Obama administration makes aggressive data collection about schools a key education reform priority.

Maine recently won $7.3 million from the federal government to expand the scope of its longitudinal data system to include information from early-childhood and adult education programs, the University of Maine System, and the Department of Labor.

“We’re very excited about the kinds of data that we will be able to collect that will help us understand what programs, what initiatives and what teaching practices are most effective,” Connerty-Marin said.

Matthew Stone — 623-3811, ext. 435
mstone@centralmaine.com