Nelson McLeod at Richard Montgomery HS must need a lot of reteaching and reinforcing. He still insists on breaking federal student privacy laws by posting student's personal identifiable information - in this case who owes money to the school - by ID numbers, so its time for the annual reminder concerning the obligations wall.
Here are two pictures sent to me this evening:
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| Redacted list of Student ID numbers as seen on bulletin board at Richard Montgomery High School 6/14/11 |
Once again, to reinforce the original concept that apparently was not learned, here is my short primer on FERPA and the Obligation Wall.
Given that this is a widespread and recurring problem in MCPS - maybe Dr. McLeod's actions can be considered within the "egregious" category. We'll ask the federal Department of Education to withhold funding for Richard Montgomery.
I wonder if Dr. Starr noticed the violation when he was at Richard Montgomery tonight. If we are really lucky, Dr. Starr should be able to address this stiuation immediately - perhaps he can give Dr. McLeod a personal lesson over coffee.
For those of you who would like to know more about educational privacy rights, here is the short version of FERPA.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is the federal privacy act equivalent for educational records. All schools that receive federal funding are subject to FERPA. FERPA is a personal right - that is, the cause of action may only be brought by the individual whose rights have been violated. For example, only a student or parent of a student named on the "obligations wall" (at Richard Montgomery, Blake, or Whitman) or public HSA remedial list (Blair) is entitled to file a complaint with the US Department of Education. If my child's rights aren't violated, sorry, no right to complain.
Remedies are mostly corrective - the objectives are get the school or school system to fix their policies and procedures. However, the regulations do permit the Department of Education to withhold funding for egregious cases - see 34 CFR 99.61 et seq.
As a lawyer involved in freedom of information and privacy act issues, most people I know outside of MCPS who deal with records subject to the privacy act or educational research and testing work very diligently to comply with the various requirements of the applicable privacy laws and regulations. MCPS is rather cavalier in its interpretations - but then again, that seems consistent with MCPS believing that most laws and policies are meant for others. I know I've spoken with my kids schools about having volunteers helping out with mailing interims, but didn't get very far, since the school claimed the volunteers were working just like school staff. How fascinating. I've only had one instance that I know about where my child's name was on the "obligations wall," and at that point I was more concerned about whether she could purchase a homecoming ticket than I was about filing a FERPA complaint.
So - given that this is a recurring problem in MCPS - maybe this posting has risen to the level of an "egregious" case and ask the federal Department of Education to withhold funding for Richard Montgomery.
More on FERPA is on the Department of Education's website:http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html
See the original post at: Short Primer on FERPA and "Obligations Wall"
Board of Education member Shirley Brandman was in the building. She missed these lists at Whitman High School, maybe she saw this one at Richard Montgomery.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/user/ParentsCoalitionNews
I don't see any names, just numbers. Is it possible that RM administration is actually trying to keep this information private?
ReplyDeleteNumbers aren't by themselves private - a common mistake from security novices: the numbers are likely sequential so you could conceivably pin them to a person (but do you have to remember who was next to you in alphabetical order from kindergarten?), and my guess would be that the numbers are on all kinds of stuff that floats around the school, so it's possible, maybe easy, to put 2 + 2 together.
This doesn't look nearly as egregious as the events cited from years past. It may even represent improved sensitivity to privacy issues, even if they fell down in execution. Just a thought.
Yes, numbers are private under FERPA. You can read all of the FERPA advice memos on this on their website.
ReplyDeleteThey want privacy? Then why in the world is there a LIST posted on the wall in a hallway? What, the school doesn't have addresses, phone numbers and e-mails for its students?
This is BULLYING plain and simple. There is NO EXCUSE for the posting of this type of information. The SOLE REASON is to BULLY STUDENTS into paying what is often an ILLEGAL FEE.
And last night the new Superintendent and 3 Board of Education members walked right past this list. Will they do anything about this BULLYING or will they continue to deny that these lists exists, as Board member Shirley Brandman did to the Maryland State Delegation?
How do you know the obligation is for an "illegal" fee? Most obligations are for textbooks that were never returned. Should we taxpayers have to pony up $$ for irresponsible students who lose their books?
ReplyDelete"Most"??
ReplyDeleteThat's right. Not all student obligations are fees that the school system can legally charge under the Maryland Constitution.
Why should parents pony up $$ for illegal fees?
Do students really know each other's ID numbers? I can think of far more effective "bullying" techniques that fall within the letter of the FERPA law. For instance, publishing a list of "graduating" and "graduating - not attending" names where the "not attending" list is the folks with outstanding obligations. That's legally permitted directory information.
ReplyDeleteI guess MCPS employees must truly be lazy good-for-nothings like all public employees, since they haven't applied themselves enough to think of this devious plan, even though their primary motivations are to humliate students, waste our money, and break the law.
Yes, students do know each others numbers.
ReplyDeleteNot sure where you have been Gary, but yes MCPS schools post the names and specific obligations that students owe on school walls. Your choice to call those school employees all those names.
The students at Whitman video taped the list of names on the wall when Board member and Whitman parent Shirley Brandman denied any knowledge of such lists. Students reported on what was really happening in their school:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ParentsCoalitionNews