The Hill Blunders Louisiana’s Student Privacy Law
In a January 18, 2019, opinion piece entitled, “Student Privacy and the Law of Unintended Consequences,” The Hill opinion contributors, Jules Polonetsky and Amelia Vance, assert that Louisiana’s student privacy law has gone too far:
In 2014, the Louisiana legislature passed a law to protect student privacy. It required parents to approve nearly any collection and sharing of student data. In other words, no student information — no accomplishments or addresses, no batting averages or GPAs — was to be shared without a parent’s express permission.And the law wasn’t merely a suggestion. It had teeth. Violations — even accidental ones — by teachers or principals, carried with them the weight of fines and jail time.But protecting student privacy wasn’t the only outcome of passing this particular law. Facing the possibility of heavy fines or ending up in prison for even a well-intentioned mistake, teachers and administrators in a number of schools told us they were so afraid that they stopped collecting or sharing data for almost any reason. They stopped printing school yearbooks. They stopped announcing football players’ names at games. They stopped hanging student artwork in the hallways. Some even stopped referring students to state scholarship funds. All unintended consequences of a well-intentioned effort to protect student privacy.
Apparently, Polonetsy and Vance are themselves trying to honor Louisiana’s privacy law by not identifying the “teachers and administrators in a number of schools” who are afraid to print yearbooks and announce players’ names at football games.
Well, my name is Mercedes Schneider; I am a Louisiana high school teacher, and I have not heard of such a ridiculous practice, which, if it is indeed practiced by some (unnamed) Louisiana teachers or admin, only demonstrates lack of CONTINUE READING: The Hill Blunders Louisiana’s Student Privacy Law | deutsch29