student data & safety
Student safety – in both physical and virtual environments – is of great importance at SAU67. To ensure that students, their personally identifiable information, and intellectual property are ethically and legally protected, SAU67 has privacy and data policies in place. Adherence to these policies by vendors and staff greatly increases our ability to protect our students from physical and virtual harm such as identity theft, harassment, and unauthorized data collection.
With the rapid growth and accessibility of technology and resources – teachers, students, and parents have access to an ever increasing wealth of tools to support teaching and learning. Accompanied with this extraordinary access comes great potential to inadvertently leak sensitive student data.
SAU67 is committed to ensuring the protection of our students’ privacy as we continue to transform education – providing world-class quality K-12 systems.
What is student data?
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects personally identifiable information (PII) from students’ education records from unauthorized disclosure. FERPA defines education records as “records that are: (1) directly related to a student; and (2) maintained by an educational agency or institution or by a party acting for the agency or institution”. FERPA also defines the term PII, which includes direct identifiers (such as a student’s or other family member’s name) and indirect identifiers (such as a student’s date of birth, place of birth, or mother’s maiden name). For more information about FERPA, click here.
(Source: PTAC)
Who uses student data?
Most personal student information stays local. Districts, states, and the federal government all collect data about students for important purposes like informing instruction and providing information to the public. But the type of data collected, and who can access them, is different at each point. For an infographic of student data in use, please click here.
(Source: DQC)
What resources use student data?
SAU67 oversees a wide range of information about students. The district manages personally identifiable information about students in accordance with the federal laws known as FERPA and COPPA. More information regarding federal and state laws, district policies and guidelines that address technology use and student data privacy can be found on the Policies/Laws and Guidelines page. SAU67 will not share personally identifiable information with third party providers unless there is a "legitimate educational interest" for the student(s). Here is a list of third party providers (educational software applications and tools) that are currently used in the district with specified grade levels. Links to terms of use and privacy agreements for each third party are provided.
SAU67 has adopted a set of standards for new online resources and a vetting process when evaluating new App/Online Tools for potential adoption. Only online apps/tools that are appropriate to meet the instructional goals, are well designed and meet the legal requirements to protect student privacy and data are approved for use by students. More detail information on the vetting process can be found on the Staff link above. In some cases, parents may receive a separate request from their teacher for permission to use an approved online application or tool with their student. Whenever possible, a student's school google account is used to access the online tool to limit personally identifiable information provided to the 3rd party.
Parents will annually receive a list of district software, applications, and web services that are approved for student use via ParrentSquare.