Gartner Says Public Schools Are Doling Out Private Information on Students and Families.

Business Editors

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 9, 2000

According to Gartner Group, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB), public schools in the United States are doing a poor job of protecting private information about students and their families.

During a time in which hackers are proving the simplicity of getting past enterprise firewalls, U.S. public schools are inadvertently giving away private information to marketers, other schools and associations and even stalkers and other criminals because of poor Internet controls.

Private information that public schools are hosting may include social security numbers, home addresses, ages, grade reports, disciplinary notes and drug test results.

Gartner urges parents of school children to demand the following privacy and information safeguards from their school administrations:

1. Annual disclosure from schools to students and parents of their rights under the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA), and of their right to file complaints.

2. Written explanation of the schools' efforts to comply with FERPA and other applicable federal, state and local laws, including teacher and administrator awareness training.

3. Written copies of schools' internal records retention and management policies.

4. Lists of all persons and departments in schools that are retaining records, the kinds of records retained, and how the information in those records is used within the school.

5. Lists of all third-party organizations (e.g., PTA groups, banks, sports groups) that have access to school records and maintain their own records, including written copies of disclosure agreements between the school and outside organizations, and names and contact information for the representatives of third-party organizations.

6. List of all information that has been disclosed to third parties, including what information, why it was disclosed, and who disclosed it and when.

7. Procedures for onsite review (at the school) of all stored records, with the right to add, change or delete materials, including comments on pre-existing materials.

8. Guarantees that parents will be informed any time that confidential information is to be released to any outside agency, even if a court order is involved, before the information is released.

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