Opt out letter & fact sheet for parents who do NOT want their child’s confidential information shared with private corporations
New York State and NYC Department of Education, along with 8 other states (MA, LA, CO, IL, NC, GA, DE, KY), have agreed to share confidential student and teacher data with a Gates-funded corporation called inBloom Inc. There is an article about this unprecedented project here.
Below is more information and an opt-out letter you can email to NYS Education Commissioner John King. The fact sheet and opt-out information is also available as a downloadable word doc.
- This confidential data that is being shared will include your child’s personally identifiable information, including name, address, grades, test scores, disciplinary and attendance records, race, ethnicity, economic status, disabilities, health conditions and other highly sensitive information.
- This information is to be stored in an electronic “data store” built by Wireless Generation, a subsidiary of News Corporation. News Corp is owned by Rupert Murdoch and has been found to have illegally violated privacy in Great Britain and in the US.
- The “data store” will be placed on a cloud managed by Amazon.com. inBloom Inc. has already stated that it “cannot guarantee the security of the information stored…or that the information will not be intercepted when it is being transmitted.”
- inBloom Inc. intends to make this highly confidential data available to commercial vendors to help them develop and market their “learning products.”
All this is happening without parental knowledge or consent.
We believe that NYS & NYC should immediately be obligated to:
- Notify all parents of these impending disclosures, and provide them with the right to consent before their child’s information is shared;
- Hold public hearings to explain the point of these disclosures, and hear from parents & privacy experts about the plan’s potential to violate their children’s privacy, security and safety;
- Explain how families can obtain relief if their children are harmed by the improper use or accidental release of this information, including who will be held financially responsible;
- Pledge that the privacy rights of public school children and their families will be respected over the interests of the Gates Foundation, inBloom Inc., News Corporation, or any other company or organization with whom this information may be shared.
What can parents do?
- Ask your elected officials, CEC, PTA, or other parent or community group to send a letter to the State or DOE, protesting this violation of student privacy rights.
- Email the following letter to NYS Education Commissioner John King, with a copy to Chancellor Walcott, the Gates Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation, which is in charge of governance, demanding that your child’s confidential educational records NOT be shared with ANY third parties.
- If the Commissioner does not respond within five business days, follow up with a phone call to his office at (518) 474 – 5844. And please let us know his response by emailing us at info@classsizematters.org.