Privacy regs still risk children’s safety, and yet another lousy class size proposal from DOE
Nov. 7, 2024
Last Tuesday the DOE released Chancellors regulations pertaining to student privacy, now to be voted on Nov. 20, in a third round of revisions that did little to allay our concerns.
The proposed regulations would still allow a breathtakingly extensive and essentially unlimited amount of sensitive student personal data to be shared by DOE and schools, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses, and birth dates, with anyone they please, and with almost none of the protections in the state student privacy law. There would be no safeguards against this disclosure except a highly unreliable parental opt out process. Indeed, these proposed disclosures could easily risk identity theft, predatory marketing, abduction, or worse. I have written more about this here.
Please send another email to the Chancellor and the DOE Chief Privacy Officer, copied to members of the PEP, saying these revisions are not good enough, and that they reveal a fundamental lack of concern for student privacy and safety.
2. Last Friday, the DOE came out with their 3rd year class size reduction proposal, including a video and an FAQ. The proposal is altogether inadequate in there is no specific amount of funding to be made available to schools for more staffing, and makes the process of applying for class size funds completely voluntary on the part of principals. Moreover, it completely shuts out the 600 or more schools that do not currently have enough space to lower class size.
In the nearly two and half years since the class size law was passed, the DOE has made no effort to create more space, either by allowing schools to cap enrollment at lower levels if there are underutilized schools nearby, or by building more schools in overcrowded areas. They are now proposing exemptions that if adopted would prevent any overcrowded school from ever having to lower class size, contrary to the language and intent of the law, even as the DOE itself controls the enrollment process through a non-transparent process.
I will provide a more detailed critique early next week, but meanwhile wanted to let you know that we will be doing briefings for parents and SLTs on strategies to ensure that their schools, as well all schools, receive the funding and the space necessary for their children to receive the smaller classes they deserve.
Yours sincerely,
Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
phone: 917-435-9329
[email protected]
http://www.classsizematters.org/
Follow on twitter @leoniehaimson
Social Networks:
