Student Data Privacy at Suffolk Public Schools

Protecting our students digital footprint and ensuring a trusted learning environment.

What is Student Data Privacy?

Student data privacy is the commitment to handling a student's personal information with integrity—ensuring that every piece of data collected is protected, shared ethically, and used solely to support their educational journey. It’s about creating a trusted learning environment where a student's digital records are treated with the same care and respect as their physical safety.

What is Personally Identifiable Information?

The types of Personally Identifiable Information break down into three categories:

Direct
- Single piece of data that identifies and individual (Name, Social Security Number, Student ID)
Indirect
- Multiple pieces of information that when combined identify an individual (gender, grade level, zip code)
Sensitive
- Information that might be considered harmful if disclosed (IEP, medical records, zip code)

At Suffolk Public Schools we make every effort to ensure that all of our students Personally Identifiable Information is protected.

Why is Student Data Privacy Important?

As a school district we are entrusted with our students data and must protect it on their behalf.
It is required by Federal and State Law and failure to comply can result in a loss of funding for the district.
Monetary cost of dealing with breaches to include legal fees, time and resources spent, and potential to lose funding.
Vetting for data privacy and having procedures in place helps to prevent data breaches.

What are the laws surround Student Data Privacy?

These are the major laws that apply to student data privacy that we must adhere to as a Public School District.

What is a Data Privacy Agreement?

A data privacy agreement is a legally binding contract between the school district and a third-party technology provider that dictates how student data must be handled, stored, and protected. This can include:

- - Defining student data
  - Limiting the use of data to only services defined by the contract
  - Requiring compliance with federal and state laws
  - Prohibiting the sale or disclosure of student data
  - Determining how long the data will be stored and the process for deleting student data

Suffolk Public Schools strives to collect Data Privacy Agreements for all digital resources that could possibly collect student data. We are members of the SDPC (Student Data Privacy Consortium) which is a national cooperative of school districts and state agencies that work together to promote student data privacy. This cooperative allows us to utilize "The Education Cooperative (TEC)", an administrative and legal team, who works with the vendor on our behalf to secure data privacy agreements for our staff and students.

This page lists all of the current Data Privacy Agreements we have in place for the district: SPS Data Privacy Agreements

How does Suffolk Public Schools Evaluate Digital Resources?

Suffolk Public Schools Digital Resource Evaluation Process

Suffolk Public Schools requires all digital resources to go through a formal evaluation process to ensure they are safe and compatible with our infrastructure. A digital resource may be denied at any point in the evaluation process if it does not meet the districts requirements.

Step 1: Initial Request from Staff Member

Suffolk Public Schools staff member can submit a ticket via our ticketing system, Incident IQ, to request a digital resource be evaluated for approval. In Incident IQ you go to "New Ticket">"Other Requests">"Approval Request for New Software". The staff member submitting this ticket must provide vendor contatact information, both a Vendor Phone Number & Vendor Email Address. This allows us as well as TEC (The legal team who works with the vendor to secure Data Privacy Agreements on our behalf) to open a line of communication with the vendor to ensure our standars are met.

Step 2: Technical and Instructional Evaluation of the Digital Resource

Upon ticket submission, the Suffolk Public Schools Technology Department—and the Instructional Department, when required—will evaluate the digital resource. Our evaluation criteria can include:

Is student data being collected?
Is it chromebook compatible?
How is it rostered?
Does it use Vimeo for video content?
Does it support Single Sign On and if so what providers?
Is this a freemium version that will require a paid version in the long run?
Is there another digital resource already purchased or being used by the district that does the same thing?
Can we support this digital resource over time?
Does the digital resource require administrative privileges?

Step 3: Determine if the Digital Resource Collects Student Data

If it is determined that the digital resource collects student data the following process is carried out.

Step 4: Make Digital Resource Available for Staff and Students

Once the digital resource makes it through the full vetting process it can then be made available for staff and student use. At this point the ticket will be closed out and if a data privacy agreement was necessary, it will be listed on the districts approved digital resources site.

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