Assuring Student Data Privacy: Lessons for Our Times

Presented by Dr. Chris Gaines, Superintendent, Mehlville School District, MO; Andrew Moore, CIO, Boulder Valley School District, CO; and Linnette Attai, Project Director, CoSN Privacy Initiative and Trusted Learning Environment Program

Program Host and Moderator: Ann McMullan, Project Director, CoSN Empowered Superintendents Initiative

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This edWebinar series is co-hosted by CoSN and edWeb.net

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As citizens, students, educators, parents, employees, and consumers, we all have concerns about maintaining the privacy of our personal data. For school districts, assuring student data privacy is a multi-stakeholder priority, and it touches every aspect of operations—from student transportation to instruction, assessment to athletics, and counseling to community initiatives. Today and going forward, student data privacy policies and their implementation are hardwired to governance, discipline, purchasing, and communications practices. Assessing privacy and compliance policies and practices related to your system-wide use of technology is a continual priority.

This edWebinar covers five critical guidelines for ensuring data privacy in any school system’s use of technology. Superintendents and district leaders will learn how to make student data privacy a district-wide priority. Strategies for communicating their district’s commitment to assuring student data privacy are shared by the superintendents and CTO on the edWebinar panel. Additionally, the project director for CoSN’s Privacy Initiative and Trusted Learning Environment Program shares information about how school districts can earn CoSN’s Trusted Learning Environment Seal and why that process benefits stakeholders across a district.

This recorded edWebinar will be of particular value to school superintendents, K-12 school and district leaders, and aspiring leaders.

About the Presenters

Dr. Chris Gaines is Superintendent of Mehlville School District in suburban St. Louis. Dr. Gaines previously served as superintendent of Missouri’s Crawford County R-I and Wright City R-II school districts. Under Dr. Gaines’ leadership, Mehlville is expanding opportunities for students. In 2017 the district opened MOSAIC, a personalized learning elementary school, and created the MyPath program, which allows high school students to create their own class. The AASA Digital Consortium visited these programs in the spring of 2018 to gain insight into emerging models of best practices using digital media to support engaging learning experiences. This year Mehlville opened academies at each middle school to expand personalized learning experiences at the middle school level. Dr. Gaines holds degrees from Southeast Missouri State University and earned his doctorate at St. Louis University. He is a member of numerous professional associations and served as the 2018-2019 President of AASA, The School Superintendents Association.

Andrew Moore is the CIO for Boulder Valley School District in Colorado where he provides IT services for 4,200 employees and 30,000 students. His focus on eliminating the homework gap, staying vigilant on cybersecurity and student data privacy guides his decision making on policy and programs in the school district. Before joining the Boulder Valley School District, Andrew was a Sr. Director at Sun Microsystems responsible for a global IT team. He developed his government experience during three terms as Mayor of the Town of Erie, a 20,000 person suburb of Boulder. Andrew holds degrees in computer science and sociology, is a certified Six Sigma professional, and is an MBA candidate at CU Denver in 2020.

Linnette Attai is Project Director for CoSN’s Privacy Initiative and Trusted Learning Environment Program. For over 25 years, Linnette has been building organizational cultures of compliance and guiding clients through the complex obligations governing data privacy, user safety, and ethical marketing, with a focus on the education and youth sectors. As founder of the global compliance consulting firm PlayWell, LLC, Linnette advises organizations, educators, lawmakers, and policy influencers. She serves as Virtual Chief Privacy officer and data protection officer to select clients, and speaks nationally on data privacy matters. Linnette is a member of the Rutgers Center for Innovation cybersecurity advisory board, and author of Student Data Privacy: Building a School Compliance Program.

About the Host

Ann McMullan is Project Director for CoSN’s Empowered Superintendents Initiative. Ann served as Executive Director, Educational Technology in the Klein Independent School District, near Houston, Texas until September 2013, when she and her family moved to Los Angeles, California. For 16 years Ann led the district team that provided professional development on technology and 21st century instructional strategies to 4,000 professional educators serving 50,000 students. Ann served as co-chair of Texas Education Technology Advisory Committee which developed the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020. Today, Ann is based in Los Angeles working as a public speaker, writer, and education consultant focused on leadership and planning to meet the needs of today’s students. Ann serves on the Project Tomorrow advisory council and is a leadership consultant with Executive Service Corps of Southern California, serving non-profit associations. Ann co-authored Life Lessons in Leadership, a guide for leaders ages eight to 88.
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CoSN (the Consortium for School Networking) is the premier professional association for school system technology leaders. CoSN provides thought leadership resources, community, best practices and advocacy tools to help leaders succeed in the digital transformation. CoSN represents over 13 million students in school districts nationwide and continues to grow as a powerful and influential voice in K-12 education.