Saturday, May 9, 2015

Elementary School Students' Pictures, Phone Numbers Mistakenly Posted Online

A Montgomery County school information technology administrator has apologized for mistakenly allowing pictures, phone numbers and student identification numbers of at least 16 elementary school students to be posted online.
The students' personal information remained online for months. The children attended Wood Acres Elementary in Bethesda...


18 comments:

  1. Deliberate action labeled as an inadvertent mistake. We've Only Just Begun. . .

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  2. Isn't this the same guy who said a few months ago that he would get back shortly to the parents of children in schools to give a report on radiation doses on school property, even though he had an English degree or something like that? I remember in a video he ran for his car, or some escape route from the questions, after making that definitive statement. Now look what he has done to the children.. I don't get it. In an area where I know for a fact many parents have advanced degrees from top schools, including many honor graduates of Ivy league and renown schools coast to coast, this is the best that can be hired? Something is wrong somewhere.

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  3. Most likely, the parents you're referring to are sending their children to private schools.

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    1. MCPS is a private school system? When did that happen? Because the parents that are questioning this are MCPS parents.

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    2. Then they should not just question it.
      They should take action if there are cases of identity theft.

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  4. This is the same man who yes.. is in charge of putting wireless in the school for the nice million dollar chromebook plan.

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  5. It will be interesting to see how long these chrome books last. It's not easy to monitor students on their chrome books and teach. I find my students playing video games and going to inappropriate places on you tube. It worries me for them and for me.

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  6. Why was the data on a slide? Can we see this breech? What was the point? What was Mr. Collette doing?

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  7. Checked out Baldridge overseers - Industry connected. http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/community/overseers.cfm
    How in the world could MCPS be in anything about "excellence"?

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  8. Seems like they are a lot of accidents going on in MCPS.

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    Replies
    1. It is known as academic depth and breadth.

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  9. All MCPS families should be concerned!!! Collette apologizes "that these data (and student data on a second slide unrelated to your child and school) were not redacted in the presentation..." Whose is this "unrelated student data"? Mine? Yours? Ours? This coming from the same man in charge of student data privacy at MCPS?!? Where is the petition for his resignation?

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  10. Hey, this was sort of like the letter we got at my daughter's school, but it was her 4th grade MSA scores along with her full name and student ID. How do you inadvertently capture that much data on a student? We were promised a meeting that never took place so some parents have met to decide to file an ethic complaint and a complaint with the Federal Government with the department that oversees the protection of student records and data.

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  11. If your child's data was exposed and you did not give permission, you have a right to file a complaint with FERPA. Go here to request a form to file a complaint: http://familypolicy.ed.gov/complaint-form

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    1. Right, and they have the right to tell you that there was no evidence that it was intentional, meanwhile you'll expose more privacy data to them that they may 'inadvertently' release in the future.

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    2. How is the Federal Government going to release more information? That does not make sense. If you go to the FERPA Website and read the information there, you will see that this is not about exposing more data. There is a FAQ for parents. Parents need to do what they feel is right, but they should also have ALL the information so that they can make that judgment call. But it is within the parent's rights to protect their child's privacy and data. This did not happen, and I feel that parents should make a stand so it does not happen again... and again... and again....

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    3. "That does not make any sense." I totally agree, but read for yourself.

      http://mercatus.org/publication/federal-cybersecurity-breaches-mount-despite-increased-spending

      http://www.scottandscottllp.com/main/government_data_breaches.aspx

      http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2014/12/year-breach-10-federal-agency-data-breaches-2014/102066/

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  12. I received a letter, too. But it was about test scores that were released. Are you telling us our child's picture and phone number were released, too? This is madness? And like the other parents mentioned... when is our meeting with the school system? I think we should call the elementary school principal or organize a meeting ourselves. They really do not seem to care much about this.

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