April 29 Town Hall on student privacy contracts

There will be a town hall meeting on the privacy of student records on Monday, April 29 at 6 p.m. at Brooklyn Borough Hall.

The meeting is sponsored by the Brooklyn Parent Academy; Assemblymembers Danny O’Donnell, James Brennan, William Colton, Nicole Malliotakis and Peter Abbate; State Senators Liz Krueger and Martin Golden; New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, New York City Council Education Chair Robert Jackson; Councilmembers Gale Brewer and Leticia James; Class Size Matters; the Learning Disabilities Association of New York; the Community Education Councils of Districts 1, 3, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22; and the Citywide Council for Special Education.

It will give parents a choice to voice their concerns about the Department of Education’s new plan to share students’ confidential, personal school records with inBloom Inc., a for-profit corporation.

Sensitive information — including names, addresses, photos, test scores, grades, economic and racial status, and most likely disciplinary and health records — will be stored on a data cloud and disclosed to for-profit corporation to help them develop and market “learning products.”

Some CECs have already passed resolutions against the practice, such as was done at CEC 20 (Bay Ridge/Dyker Heights/Bensonhurst/Sunset Park).

For more information, call CEC District 14 at 718-302-7624 (Williamsburg/Greenpoint) or CEC District 15 (Park Slope/Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens) at 718-935-4267.