Video above of CM Joseph’s incisive questioning of Marnie Davidoff, Assistant Commissioner for the Bureau of Children, Youth and Families about Teenspace lax privacy practices, followed by video of Leonie Haimson, Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, speaking on the same issue. Leonie’s written testimony is below, followed by the testimony of Shannon Edwards, founder of AI for Families. Chalkbeat and Crain’s Health Pulse also reported on the issue.
Council testimony about teenspace 11.25.24 Mental Health Testimony_S.Edwards 11.24.24Chancellor to create a Work Group to improve the terrible privacy regs
Nov. 22, 2024
After our letter and more than 3,000 parent emails were sent to the new DOE Chancellor and members of the Panel for Educational Policy, she was alerted to the fact that their privacy regulations were not acceptable to parents and other members of the community. Chancellor Ramos reached out, and last week we had a good meeting with her, along with parent leaders and advocates, as well as many top DOE officials and legal staff on this issue.
The Chancellor was great and quickly agreed to our suggestion to create a working group that would collaborate to revise the regulations to so that students’ safety and privacy are not put at unacceptable risk by allowing the unrestricted release of their sensitive data. At this point, the PEP vote on the regs is indefinitely postponed. Yesterday’s Politico Playbook briefly reported on this development.
Thanks so much for the letters of support sent in recent days from UFT President Michael Mulgrew, Council Members Krishnan, Joseph, and Aviles, and the Center on Race and Digital Justice, urging the DOE to revise the regulations and restrict the disclosure of personal data to better ensure student privacy and safety, including to prevent the harassment and deportation of migrant children. Those letters are below.
Council letter vs draft Chancellors regulations A-820 Mulgrew letter to Chancellor opposed to weakening of CR A-820 concerning student privacy Center on Race and Digital Justice letter to ChancellorSafeguarding your child’s personal data: Threat to student privacy from DOE’s use of digital learning, Teenspace, College Board, AI & more
Oct. 24, 2024
Last night we held a privacy briefing, pointing out the flaws in the privacy practices and policies of the NYC Dept. of Education. Co-sponsored by AQE, and with the participation of Beth Haroules of NYCLU, it was well-attended, with lots of good questions . We hope to have video soon.
For those who could not attend, you can watch the video above and/or check out the slightly updated presentation here and below. If your parent or community group would like a similar briefing, please let us know by emailing us at [email protected]
Privacy briefing 10.23.24 final
Urge the NYC Chancellor to strengthen their proposed student privacy regulations now!
Please send a letter today to the NYC Schools Chancellor, the Dept of Education Chief Privacy Officer and the members of the Panel for Educational Policy, the NYC school board, opposing proposed revisions to the regulations pertaining to student privacy.
These proposed revisions would essentially allow the NYC Dept. of Education to share the names, email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses, and birth dates of students with anyone they like, and with no restrictions except an unreliable parent opt out method. They would also weaken privacy protections for student health records as well as the security provisions in state law to defend against hacking and breaches.
The letter urges the DOE to postpone the vote on these regulations, now scheduled for Oct. 30, until they are fundamentally revised, and until DOE officials have met with parents and advocates to hear more about our concerns. A letter sent on behalf of Class Size Matters and the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy with more detail about these and other significant weaknesses in the proposed regulations is posted here and below. Thanks!
Serious concern with proposed Chancellors regulation A-820 10.21.24Join us next Wed. for a Student Privacy briefing!
On Wed. October 23, 2024 at 7 PM ET, we’ll be briefing parents on how they can better protect their children’s data — mostly aimed at NYC parents and teachers, but we’ll give tips useful nationwide. Register today here.
