TECHNOLOGY

Robert Kovi
Director of Technology
Technology Department
voice 203-315-7947

Technology Staff

STUDENT DATA PRIVACY

Laws Pertaining to Student Safety and Data Protection

The Branford Public School District is committed to protecting the privacy of its students, faculty, and staff. In that effort, instructional and curricular resources are selected and procured with data security as a key criteria element, ensuring students an effective yet safe educational experience. The District complies with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which has a goal of protecting a student’s educational records.

We are currently working with our vendors whose products fall under the privacy legislation to obtain contract modifications which ensure that the suppliers are compliant with the law. This page will be continually updated as required by law once new contracts are in process. Those district vendors who have not yet completed the Connecticut Privacy Pledge have signed on to the National K-12 School Service Provider Pledge to Safeguard Student Privacy @ Student Privacy

FERPA is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds from the U.S. Department of Education. FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level.

The primary goal of COPPA is to place parents in control over what information is collected from their young children online. COPPA was designed to protect children under age 13 while accounting for the dynamic nature of the Internet. The Rule applies to operators of commercial websites and online services (including mobile apps) directed to children under 13 that collect, use, or disclose personal information from children, and operators of general audience websites or online services with actual knowledge that they are collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from children under 13. The Rule also applies to websites or online services that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information directly from users of another website or online service directed to children.

CONNECTICUT GENERAL ASSEMBLY STATUTE 

Connecticut's Student Data Privacy law is in addition to FERPA law, is comprehensive in nature, and incorporates several provisions to protect the privacy of student information, including:

  • Restricting how student information may be used by entities that contract to provide educational software and electronic storage of student records and by non-instructional professional consultants and contractors, operators of websites, online services, or mobile applications (i.e., apps).

  • Clarifying that student data collected for school purposes is not owned by any of these third-party contractors.

  • Requiring local boards of education to notify parents when they execute a new contract with a software, data storage, or internet service provider.

  • Stipulating data security and privacy provisions that must figure in all contracts between local school districts and software, data storage, and internet service providers.

  • Requiring school districts to withhold the release of student directory information if the local or regional board of education determines that a request for such information is not related to school purposes.

The State Commission for Educational Technology's Connecticut Educational Software Hub supports school districts and educational technology providers by streamlining compliance with the state law on Student Data Privacy.

CURRENT APPLICATIONS THAT USE STUDENT INFORMATION:

Branford Public Schools uses multiple applications to support learning. Not all applications use student information. The link below includes applications in use that meet student data privacy requirements.

BRANFORD APPROVED APPLICATIONS