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Protect your children's privacy!!!
Amid growing concerns about data privacy and surveillance, the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy (PCSP) and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) have created an important resource for parents to understand and safeguard students' personal information.
The Parent Toolkit for Student Privacy: A Practical Guide for Protecting Your Child's Sensitive School Data from Snoops, Hackers, and Marketers is a vital resource in an age where nearly all school records are stored digitally, and where learning, homework, and administrative tasks are increasingly conducted online.
Available free to parents on
CCFC and
PCSP's websites, the Toolkit offers clear guidance about federal laws that do-and don't-protect students' privacy, helps parents ask the right questions about their schools' data policies, and offers simple steps parents can take to advocate for better privacy policies and practices in their children's schools.
Laura Bowman, leader of PAA-Roanoke Valley, served on a panel that reviewed the toolkit, and she will join PAA co-founder Leonie Haimson and Rachael Stickland from PCSP and Josh Golin from CCFC in a
webinar presenting the toolkit:
When: Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Time: 8 pm ET
Register and learn how to join the webinar
here.
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Two important movie viewings!
Some of you may have seen a rough cut of the movie "Backpack Full of Cash" at the Network for Public Education conference in Raleigh last year. The documentary is now finished and showings are being scheduled.
Narrated by Matt Damon,
the film explores the growing privatization of public schools and the resulting impact on America's most vulnerable children. Filmed in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Nashville and other cities, it takes viewers through the tumultuous 2013-14 school year, exposing the world of education "reform" and its impact on schools.
The film will be shown in Seattle tomorrow and the first week of June as part of the Seattle International Film Festival:
Dates and locations of additional showings can be found here, and you can contact the filmmakers to see about arranging for a showing in your area here.
Re:Thinking
A second excellent documentary to look for is Re:Thinking, a film that offers three positive models of schools where students are being taught how to think, not what to think.
The best way to keep up with screening schedules for this film is on their Facebook page here.
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PAA's Deb Mayer on the "Slenderman" trial: Why parents should beware the Slenderman
Parents should take the time to read PAA Board member Deb Mayer's recent post on the Slenderman trial, which you can find on the PAA-Oregon web site.
There is also an HBO documentary on the case which was shown earlier this year and will be rebroadcast this Saturday, May 20 (HBO2 East, 12:45 pm MT, check your local listings).
Slenderman is an internet meme that has captured the imagination of impressionable children even to the extent -- according to lawyers for two little girls in Wisconsin -- that they may attempt murder in order to protect their families from him.
The full, disturbing story is detailed in Deb's article, but the important message is simple: children are not mature enough to deal appropriately with much of what they see on the internet.
And the way the internet works simply intensifies the effect, as Deb explains: "Algorithms working beneath the radar actively guided the internet usage of the girls, recommending Slenderman and making sure that they returned to similar sites again and again. The same is true for all Internet users. Data is collected on children and adults every time they visit a web site.
Through projections using predictive analytics,
according to their previous choices, a slate of similar sites is offered to them each time they go back online.
PAA's work on EdTech has raised many red flags about what we see as the growing misuse and overuse of digital technology in schools. The Slenderman case just takes these concerns to their most chilling level.
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If you share
our overall goals
of progressive, positive education reform and more parent input in education policy making, we invite you to affiliate with us if you are an existing group, or to form a new PAA chapter. The more of us there are, the stronger our voice will be at every level.
Here's how!
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If you have questions, comments, suggestions or stories to share, please e-mail us at info@parentsacrossamerica.org or visit
www.parentsacrossamerica.org.
Looking for regular updates on key education stories? Join the PAA News List by e-mailing PAAnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
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