Parish schools already protecting student privacy

The student data privacy bill recently signed by Gov. Bobby Jindal will cause little change in St. Mary Parish as the district previously shifted away from the use of Social Security numbers for general student reporting, school officials said.
The bill required that public school students get new student identification numbers and added new privacy protections for student data.
Parents had pressed for the protections in the recently-ended legislative session, in a bill sponsored by Republican Rep. John Schroder. Lawmakers agreed without opposition.
The bill puts limits on how Louisiana handles the data and requires a shift away from using Social Security numbers to identify students.
St. Mary Parish Assistant Superintendent Teresa Bagwell said via email that the district already uses a randomized 10-digit student identification number that does not include any personal data on report cards, student schedules, progress reports and other distributed documents.
“Therefore, the recently signed legislation adding privacy protection of student data will not significantly alter practices for St. Mary Schools given security measures already in place. Many school districts in Louisiana utilize an online student data system operated by EDgear, known as JPAMS. The system offers a format for storing information related to a child’s educational background without reference to Social Security numbers,” Bagwell said.
Administrators, guidance counselors, and teachers have distinct accessibility that is monitored by the district’s data manager, Bagwell said.
Bagwell said St. Mary is one of many Louisiana school districts working with JPAMS and post-secondary reporting agencies to resolve any requirement to include Social Security numbers with TOPS eligibility or transcript reporting.
“It will be necessary for colleges and educational testing services to adopt similar security practices to alleviate any reference to such numbers. The state is also investigating refinements to the current assignment of student identification numbers, potentially expanding it to either a 16- or 32-digit reference,” she said.
The state education department must complete the student identification system by May 1, 2015. Local school boards must assign each student a number by June 1 under the new law.
The state education board agreed last week to spend up to $1 million on the effort.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.