Private colleges and universities employing student workers face the unique challenge of balancing privacy obligations and a growing push from federal labor authorities to release student information to unions. Recent...more
We previously wrote about Public Act 102-0543, which required the Illinois State Board of Education (“ISBE”) to collect and report student sexual orientation, gender, and sex data. ISBE postponed implementation of the Act in...more
The United States Department of Education (DOE) recently released two new guidance documents focused on student health records to remind schools of their continued obligations to protect students’ rights under the Family...more
Higher Education CLE Webinar Series | Presented by Bricker & Eckler and the Southern Illinois University School of Law - Join us for a free webinar series in the month of June on important topics in higher education. ...more
Schools, colleges and universities often will outsource to third parties any number of functions or services, such as the operation of campus bookstores and dining facilities, campus security, management of campus parking,...more
PCS Revenue Control Systems, Inc. (PCS) was hit with a proposed class action lawsuit last week alleging that it discovered a data breach from a hacking attack in December 2019 but failed to notify the affected students until...more
In a rare case where the Ohio Supreme Court’s analysis primarily focused on the Ohio Student Privacy Act, R.C. 3319.321 (OSPA), the Court determined the Act’s provisions apply to the records of a former student, even when the...more
Parents, students, and educators are navigating a novel educational landscape. Some schools are relying on a virtual model that requires significant technological involvement, others have opened up their facilities for...more
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, school districts find themselves engaging in virtual education at unprecedented levels, and with this comes many questions that may not have been considered in the past, including whether...more
This post was co-authored with Kaylee Rose, first-year law student at Cumberland School of Law: Vermont Amends Data Breach Notification Law - On July 1, 2020, amendments to Vermont’s Security Breach Notice Act, 9 V.S.A. §§...more
North Dakota’s State Board of Higher Education recently implemented the Student Data Privacy and Security Bill of Rights (the “Policy”). The Policy, which went into effect on May 29, 2020, was created by the North Dakota...more
The U.S. Department of Education Student Privacy Policy Office recently provided more in-depth information regarding FERPA and virtual education in light of COVID-19 through a webinar. Much of what they discussed has already...more
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has issued guidance in the form of Frequently Asked Questions to assist school officials with how to protect student privacy under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA),...more
On March 12, 2020, the U.S. Department of Education (“DOE”) issued a critical Frequently Asked Questions guidance document (and also established a resource page) for the education sector regarding compliance with the Family...more
We all recognize the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) as the federal law that prohibits the release of personally identifiable student information without the consent of a parent or eligible student. ...more
The COVID-19 virus is having an unprecedented effect on all aspects of our daily lives, and has hit the educational system especially hard with forced closures and cancellations....more
Preparations are well underway for the largest peacetime mobilization of federal resources—the decennial census. As a result of their “hard to count” student populations, as well as their obligations under federal student...more
Compliance Today (February 2020) - On December 19, the U.S. Department of Education and the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the release of the “updated joint guidance...more
On January 14, 2020, the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) issued a letter to Institutions of Higher Education to address issues that may arise as a result of the 2020 Census. (Note that this...more
As part of the New York State budget for the 2014-2015 school year, Education Law §2-d was enacted to make provisions to protect the personally identifiable information contained in student records and in principal and...more
As discussed in a previous DBR on Data post, the U.S. Department of Education (“ED”) in recent years has repeatedly emphasized the importance of higher education institutions taking all appropriate measures to secure and...more
This summer, Pearson notified a handful of Illinois school districts that its AIMSweb 1.0 Platform had experienced a data breach that impacted over 13,000 account holders nationally. ...more
FERPA is a U.S. law, passed in 1974, that protects the privacy of student educational records. FERPA applies to all schools, from elementary schools to postsecondary education institutions, that receive federal funds under a...more
A new school year is upon us and some students are already back at school. Upon their return, many students may experience new technologies and equipment rolled out by their schools districts, such as online education...more
August is approaching and some of you may be preparing to send children off to college or back to college. If your child is age 18 or older, you can take some simple steps to improve your access to your child’s medical...more