SALEM – The MSAD 58 school board is asking, but that doesn’t mean parents have to say “yes.”
The school board voted unanimously at Thursday evening’s board meeting to recommend parents not turn in their children’s social security numbers, although they intend for the district to comply with new legislation mandating that the personal information be requested. The board also passed a resolution, drafted by the Maine Civil Liberties Union, which effectively opposes the collection of the private information and requests that the new law be overturned.
In 2009, the Legislature passed an “Act to Improve the Ability of the Department of Education to Conduct Longitudinal Data Studies,” which created a new system for the DOE to study Maine student-related statistics. According to the DOE, these statistics include enrollment numbers and student educational progress, and the data will be cross-referenced with early childhood and secondary education participation. The purpose is to evaluate and improve programming.
However to track the students, the DOE is requiring school districts collect and report social security numbers along with written consent from parents to use the numbers in the new system. Districts across the state have expressed reservations about collecting the numbers, as have organizations such as the MCLU.
“The right to privacy,” Field Director Brianna Twofoot, of the MCLU, wrote in an email to school districts across the state, “is a personal and fundamental right protected by the Constitution of the United States.”
MSAD 58 Superintendent Quenten Clark noted that the district would collect any data from parents wishing to have their children participate in the program. Letters going home to parents will include the board’s recommendation and language from the DOE regarding the request.
QUOTE: “In 2009, the Legislature passed an “Act to Improve the Ability of the Department of Education to Conduct Longitudinal Data Studies,”
When are we going to wake up and vote the current majority of the Maine legislature out of office?
Thank you SAD58! I wasn’t going to give them to you anyway, but thank you for taking a stand.
We’re in Mt. Blue SD, but we have no intention of turning over our child’s SS#, either. Good for SAD58! I hope more follow their lead.
The idiot majority that has been in charge of this state for the last 30 years is an insult to any taxpayer with an I.Q. over 76, THROW THESE BUMS OUT THIS FALL!!!!!!
Here is a link to the law.
http://www.mainelegislature.org/ros/LOM/LOM124th/124R1/PUBLIC448.asp
Within the law is this: The commissioner may withhold monthly subsidy payments from a school administrative unit when information is not filed in the specified format and with specific content and within the specified time schedules.
Does that mean if schools don’t comply they may be penalized?
Why not just assign each student a personal pin number to track. The Department of Education already uses that kind of format for all college students receiving financial aid. That would protect privacy and the student would already have a pin number established with the Department of Education before entering college.
There is no penalty. Since the law includes an opt-out provision for parents, the district is in compliance by simply going through the motions, even though we are recommending the opt-out. We did not preclude collecting Social Security numbers if parents decide they want to give up their childrens’ Constitutional rights to privacy.
The Dept. of Ed. does already assign its own number to all students in the state, as Bonnie suggested. This collection of soc. sec. numbers was to be in addition to that: clearly unnecessary, redundant, and invasive.
When do we all get bar codes tattooed on our wrists?