Bissonette, Aimee Cyber Law Corwin, 2009
Chapter 4: Privacy and Security
Since starting my student-teaching, I have gotten to see up and close what schools do in respect to privacy and security of students. This chapter in the book enlightened me on the different laws in place for student's security and privacy in and out of the schools. The most important is the FERPA which requires parental notice and consent before schools can post and disclose private student information. FERPA also affects a schools storage and retention of student records by making sure both the school has a system in place for storing records and permission for parents to review the records. Failure in either of these parts results in litigation.
The chapter goes on to talk about the sharing of information among staff. Staff do not have the right to share records and grades of students among teachers. I'm guessing this goes for elementary grades as well. If so, then my school I interned at does not do a good job because many teachers talked about their students in the lunch room or in the hallways and disclosed information between them. I also as an intern was able to go in and look at a student's cumulative record. I guess that's ok since I'm an intern at the school yet at the same time, I was leery because these are personal records of the students.
The chapter closes out with discussing the school's role in the privacy and security of students. The chapter mentions policies which Adam Hotchkiss talked about, as well as making sure to hand out parent permission slips for information or even taking pictures of students. The chapter also mentions to educate the teachers and staff about FERPA and other piracy legislation so that no laws are broken and children can be protected. Students also need to be educated with online safety so that they do nothing to compromise their identity including copyright and fair use. Ignorance is not bliss and so it is not fair for people that are not properly educated on matters of high importance such has privacy and security. We need to make an effort to educate everyone of these issues.
I think that an intern should be able to see the files of the student with whom that intern is working, since that is part of knowing the students as a teacher.
ReplyDeleteYou are right that teachers should not be discussing personal details about students by name with others who do not have a direct teaching responsibility. On the other hand, it would be OK to mention a student's difficulties without using names as a "professional consultation." Teachers probably should work with others if it can mean a new perspective or idea to solve a problem to the student's benefit.
The difficulty is that avoiding names can get too cute or coy, and may not be overly effective when teachers know students outside of their class through interactions outside of the classroom in the school or with students who are in their class. So, it is a quandary - but pretty common. You are wise to be cautious in this area.