Ridgefield Public Schools prioritizes the safeguarding of student information, adhering to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and the Connecticut Student Data Privacy Act. Ridgefield’s implementation follows state guidelines in accordance with Connecticut law. This state-specific regulation governs the sharing of personally identifiable information (PII) from students with any external individuals or organizations beyond Ridgefield Public Schools. For operational needs at the school and district levels, Ridgefield Public Schools gathers such information and limits its distribution solely to authorized internal district personnel who require access. Although the District upholds FERPA's standards for maintaining student confidentiality, this Connecticut statute imposes additional obligations to enhance privacy protections above federal mandates. It establishes baseline standards for privacy and contracts applicable to everyone engaged in generating, utilizing, revealing, or managing student data.
RPS uses Applications/Services that have signed the Connecticut CTEdTech Student Privacy Pledge and are currently vetting by the state as Compliant.
If an Application/Service has not been found to be CTEdTech compliant, then we ask the vendor to agree to our (RPS) privacy agreement.
If neither of these conditions above are met then the district will not move forward with that particular Application/Service.
All items in the following list owned, subscribed to, or free have met the data privacy conditions above.
If it is a general resource that does not require a sign in, account creation, or the user to give any personal data, then the teacher is free to use the resource as long as it is considered appropriate. If you have any questions reach out to your leadership or helpdesk.
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IF, The resource requires some level of student data, sign in, account creation, etc.
If the resource is free then contact helpdesk and we can evaluate its feasibility, privacy, and security.
If the resource has a cost, then we ask that you contact your department head, supervisor, or building leadership for budgeting. We can then work with leadership on the product's privacy/security.
Student Records- any non aggregated information directly related to a student that can be acquired through the use of educational software or systems.
Student Information - any personally identifiable information or material of a student's created in any media or format that is not publicly available.
Student Generated Content- any materials created by a student.