Sensitive data about some Montgomery County high school students became available online last week, in possible violation of a federal law protecting student privacy.
District officials scrambled to have the data removed after an Examiner inquiry. But the breach highlighted new challenges faced by administrators thrust into an online world. At the same time as they’re pressured to make information public, the law demands utmost vigilance in keeping student data private.
Unfortunately for 18 students at Gaithersburg’s Quince Orchard High School, their alleged lack of math skills was exposed when a school presentation was posted online without the students’ permission.
“These students need our help in passing the Algebra [exam] so they can graduate from high school,” read a banner on a PowerPoint slide showing student pictures. The slide was originally part of a June presentation at Harvard University about closing the achievement gap. The administrators giving the presentation were modeling school strategies used to personalize data in order for teachers to better instruct each student.
According to district officials, the students portrayed in the slide were selected at random but without permission, and did not necessarily have troubles in math.
“They could have shown cartoon figures or silhouettes and the presentation would have been just as effective,” said Louis Wilen, a Montgomery County parent who first brought the issue to the district’s attention on Aug. 4. The information was removed on Aug. 12.
“We erred in getting the information too quickly on the Internet,” said school spokesman Steve Simon, stressing the mistake arose from good intentions — to share the presentation with interested educators. “It gets challenging when you’re operating in the age of the Internet and information can be shared so rapidly. You have to take a close look at what’s acceptable.”
The law allows student information to be used in a limited way without permission for professional development. But when Harvard put the slide show online, legal experts said that violated student privacy.
Student privacy law “is a big topic, and bigger than ever because of the Internet,” said Pat Hoover, an education lawyer based in Rockville. “This is the kind of thing that happens these days. [Administrators] do things without clearing them or thinking about them, and that’s a real no-no.”
