I hate it, but it looks like I am probably going to have to send Kiddo to Kindergarten. I am already starting my research into various whatnot...because thats what I do, prepare for the very worst. Especially when dealing with bureaucrats. Even more especially now that I am facing the biggest bureaucracy in the country.
Anywho, today I was reading the draconian attendance policy, and noted a doctor's note is needed if a kid misses 4 days. I am assuming that even kids in public schools maintain their medical privacy rights. I plan to ask my doctors office if they have a form, and/or insist that any note only state the date of visit and whether Kiddo is fit for full activity or restricted activity...no diagnoses or details. Does my assumption sound valid?
Trying to find THAT info led me the FERPA, educational privacy rights
This little handbook sounds like it was written just for me. And yes, I will be pestering the poor school with many of these questions.
Any parents here run into trouble or have concerns about privacy for your kids in school?
Our school policy is 3 days rather than 4. My pediatrician has a standard form that only states days out and date the child can return to school. No diagnoses or other info.
We had a minor brouhaha with the school about privacy, but in this case it was some school directory bullshit. Turned out that they merely didn't word their opt-in/opt-out instructions clearly, and we didn't have to opt-out just to maintain privacy (but we made damned sure anyway). But I would recommend being a paranoid ninny like we were, just in case -- which I don't doubt you will.
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hide, witch, hide / the good folks come to burn thee / their keen enjoyment hid behind / a gothic mask of duty - P. Kantner
I am interested in this topic, but it is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS what my experiences are or what I think about it!
OK, but seriously, I am interested, but for the life o' me, I cannot remember what the policies were at TLM's schools and stuff. This must have been one of the two or three things I didn't have to fight with them about.
But way back when it probably wasn't as much of an issue. That's not being a smartass at the olds either. Pre NCLB and pre Columbine pre rampant identity theft and all that, I don't think there was nearly as much need to ensure the schools weren't gathering and/or handing out information they weren't entitled to.
If my mom called and said I wouldn't be at school, I was excused. Period. I don't remember truancy police on the case after less than a week.
So, knowing your interest in privacy issues in general, maybe you can review the links and let me know what you think about my decisions and assumptions?
I plan to challenge them starting day one...I am not going put Kiddo's SSN on his enrollment form. The enrollment form doesn't carry any disclosure about it being mandatory or voluntary or what they use it for. Further I looked at our states enrollment reporting policy, and it says name, address, and birthday have to be reported to the state, not SSN. They don't need it, so they don't get it, unless they prove to me it is required by law.
That is SO an old people burn! It's an even worse one, because it is an old people burn against my CHILD, which makes it a double old burn against me. Like when I call my mom and tell her that her GRANDSON has an IRA and stuff like that. (That one is actually a triple burn, but the same principles apply.)
TLM was in the public schools both after Columbine (in fact, that was right near our house, and he knew a kid--a significantly OLDER kid no less!--who had just transferred there), and after NCLB. I do remember that I never gave his schools his SSN, although I don't remember if I just refused it or if I gave them some kinda 000-00-0000 thing or what. I assume that, whatever I did, I didn't get crap for it, because if I had, I'd remember.
That's likely to be regional, or even an individual school thing, though. I don't know. However, social security numbers are still not mandatory, so not every citizen has or is required to have one, and I know that some parents choose not to get their kids a number when they're younger. So if they don't have a way of dealing with kids who don't give their SSNs, they need to figure one out.
The enrollment form doesn't carry any disclosure about it being mandatory or voluntary or what they use it for.
When doing federal paperwork, the code word to use is "Privacy Act Statement". I learned that one in the Air Force. If it doesn't have a Privacy Act Statement on it (basically a paragraph stating what they are doing with the number or what the consequences are of not giving the number), then you don't have to put your SSN on it. I don't know if that is of any use when dealing with the state, but it's something.
That's likely to be regional, or even an individual school thing, though. I don't know. However, social security numbers are still not mandatory, so not every citizen has or is required to have one, and I know that some parents choose not to get their kids a number when they're younger. So if they don't have a way of dealing with kids who don't give their SSNs, they need to figure one out.
It's the very first field on the enrollment form, even before the kid's name, so this will be my first rock over the wall, ya know? They may not say anything at all, I don't know. But I want to be prepared just in case
The enrollment form doesn't carry any disclosure about it being mandatory or voluntary or what they use it for.
When doing federal paperwork, the code word to use is "Privacy Act Statement". I learned that one in the Air Force. If it doesn't have a Privacy Act Statement on it (basically a paragraph stating what they are doing with the number or what the consequences are of not giving the number), then you don't have to put your SSN on it. I don't know if that is of any use when dealing with the state, but it's something.
It's the very first field on the enrollment form, even before the kid's name, so this will be my first rock over the wall, ya know? They may not say anything at all, I don't know. But I want to be prepared just in case
In that case, it might just be that they use SSNs as a primary key to keep your kid's record distinct from say some kid's with a similar name. One of my go-rounds in college, our student ID was our SSN for that very purpose. But we had the option of requesting a unique ID from the school if we didn't want to disclose our SSN. This was in the more innocent time before rampant identity theft, though, so maybe Kiddo's school has a similar option and is just behind the times because lol Alabama.
Huh. I remember as a kid, having a big dealio to present my social security card to the school because another child was using the same number. Most likely an illegal, as this was Texas. My Dad didn't like it and raised a big stink. But ultimately I believe we had to show it.
I'm not sure they'd raise a problem about your SSN. I don't know why kids are required to get them so young now either, though I seem to have known that about 6 years ago.
Don't they have to have them now for you to declare them on taxes or something? Since people were like declaring their dogs or whatever? Or did I just imagine that happening in my lifetime.
I can understand wanting to differentiate the kids that way. One day my mom got a call that my sister was sick and needed to be picked up from school. When she got to the high school and my sister was fine she found out the call had come from the elementary school my sister had been in years before. They had a kid with the same name, didn't check the age and called the wrong parents. I sometimes wonder how long it took them to catch it and call the right parents.
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"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette
In that case, it might just be that they use SSNs as a primary key to keep your kid's record distinct from say some kid's with a similar name. One of my go-rounds in college, our student ID was our SSN for that very purpose. But we had the option of requesting a unique ID from the school if we didn't want to disclose our SSN. This was in the more innocent time before rampant identity theft, though, so maybe Kiddo's school has a similar option and is just behind the times because lol Alabama.
The district's press release about Kindergarten registration says to bring a social security card. I called the helpfully provided number and asked for the statute that supported that requirement, and she was all "I don't know what you mean". She put me on hold for a bit, then gave me a different name and number to call
That lady said there is no statute, I have the absolute right to refuse to give his SS#, and the schools can give an ID number provided by the state, and added that if the school hassles me to call her personally and she will give me a state ID number to use
So, I am glad I called rather than making this stand on registration day. Thank you lisapea for suggesting I do so
Many years ago, the State of North Carolina passed a law making it illegal for employers to use SSNs for employee identification. However that didn't stop my employer from continuing to use said number for employee identification and as my employer is the State of North Carolina, my personnel files were public record including my ID number. That finally got changed a few years ago after a big enough stink was raised.
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Much of MADNESS, and more of SIN, and HORROR the soul of the plot.
Yeah, you would think the state would understand, you know, the State regulations. That's why I kinda giggled at the girl who was all "what do you mean?" when I asked for the statute they were using to make a requirement.
I told my school that my child has viral asthma, which is true-ish, and am on friendly terms with my doctor who kindly provided me with a note for such. So now, when my daughter inadvertently misses loads of school, the school can submit that note to the inspectorate, who simply tick it off as a chronic illness thing and never, ever look at it again.
So I can give her all the days off school I want, and nothing is reported but a chronic childhood illness that most kids grow out of at a later age.
Well he is registered. I did not give his SS card, and told them they could get an ID number from X in the district attendance department. They looked at me funny but didn't argue or anything.
Then, they said Kiddo would be "tested", as I had anticipated from the press release that mentioned a Kindergarten Readiness screening. When I asked the office lady how the test results were used and by whom she looked at me funny, again, and said she didn't know. I had to ask the principal who was doing my intake (teeny-tiny school has the advantage of the principal doing shit work) and was satisfied with her answer that it was used only to help the teacher make lesson plans for a group with a super wide range of knowledge.
I also discussed with her that yes, I could be a PITA if she wanted to bristle at my requests, but that I have strongly held convictions about privacy and individual rights and this is my one and only kid. She asked that I initially give the benefit of the doubt anytime something came up, and discuss it with her before shredding the school apart and/or flipping out. A reasonable request, actually.
No worries Corona, I am never one to drop my vigilance or interrogations. In fact, I just wrote to a professor at UAB requesting her published critique of the DIBELS test, to have in hand when I offer my benefit of the doubt to the Principal and ask her to explain the benefits of administration of the test to new readers
Privacy in public schools
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Yes, that was it. No SSN, no tax deduction.
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