10 million student records about to be released to attorneys

Fewer than 10 people will receive the student data, and their review will be overseen by a court-ordered special master in electronic discovery.

But the group said it wasn’t seeking kids’ private information.

A California group called the Concerned Parent Association has won, in court, the right to data collected through the years by the California Department of Education about students from grades K-12. To do that, it needs to survey student school records.

Data on millions of California students will soon be released to the Concerned Parents Association.

Although Judge Kimberly Mueller is accepting letters or objection forms from parents, or former students who are 18 or over, through April 1, her order does not indicate whether she will block the release of data based on them.

Parents and privacy advocates say the state is ill-equipped to keep such information secret once it’s distributed to outside parties.

“We have been fighting to protect student privacy rights and we have had that position since 2012”, Tira said.

The stateEducation Department has posted links to the form (in English and Spanish) for parents to request their children’s records not be released, and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson has recommended that school districts, as well as county offices of education and charter school operators, do likewise. “Or whether children who were diagnosed with behavioral issues had a behavioral management plan in place”.

SDUSD, the state’s second-largest school district, is not a party in the lawsuit.

Around 10 percent of California’s 6.2 million students are in special education, Tira said.

Since then, the plaintiffs have fought to get state data – without identifiable student information – to bolster the allegations, information the state has declined to provide, McNulty said.

Under the court order, the data will be handled carefully, she said. The plaintiffs believe the data will reveal violations that could include a failure to identify special-needs students at an early age, or a disproportionate identification of Latino children as mentally disabled.

Part of the court’s order prohibits the two organizations and their legal counsel from disclosing any confidential information acquired during the course of the lawsuit disseminating records to the public.

A number of school districts surveyed on Tuesday were not aware of the coming release nor the request to advise parents about it.

“Assembly Bill 2097 would prohibit school districts from gathering Social Security numbers and other sensitive unnecessary information for students except where required by federal law”, according to a news release issued by Assembly members Melissa Melendez, R‐Lake Elsinore; Lorena Gonzalez, D‐San Diego; and Mike Gatto, D‐Los Angeles.

The state PTA is scrambling to get the word out to parents.