from today's Boston Globe on MCAS

[kber <kber@EARTHLINK.NET>]

the url of which is
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/311/metro/ACLU_files_MCAS_complaintP.shtml

text pasted in below

Ken Bernstein




 ACLU files MCAS complaint

 Student privacy at issue in outreach

 By Megan Tench, Globe Staff, 11/7/2002

 Lawyers for the Massachusetts American Civil Liberties Union are
charging Boston public school officials with violating
 student privacy laws for using volunteers to reach out to parents of
students in the class of 2003 who have failed the MCAS
 and may not graduate.

 ACLU lawyer Sarah Wunsch filed a complaint with the US Department of
Education Monday stating the district's new MCAS
 outreach efforts - calling parents of failing students, starting today,
and later visiting their homes - violate federal laws
 prohibiting the dissemination of student education records without the
consent of the parent or student.

 ''It was my view that bringing in a bunch of volunteers and telling
them which kids had failed MCAS and then unleashing
 them to call up those kids or visit their homes raised a lot of
questions about whether the law had been violated,'' said
 Wunsch.

 Federal officials said yesterday they are investigating the complaint.

 ''We did get the inquiry, and we're going to take a look at it,'' said
Jim Bradshaw, spokesman for the US Department of
 Education. He noted, however, that for the department to take action
federal law requires that such a complaint come from a
 parent or student.

 Regardless, Boston public school officials yesterday defended their
campaign, saying it is not unusual for schools to use
 volunteers to call parents. School officials said they plan to proceed
with launching the phone- bank part of the campaign
 today.

 ''We have the moral and educational duty to do all that is within our
power to reach out to failing students and their families to
 ensure that the students in the class of 2003 receive their diplomas,''
said Tim Knowles, deputy superintendent for teaching
 and learning. ''That includes engaging the community deeply, and that's
what this is about.''

 School officials acknowledged that they did not do background checks on
the volunteers making the phone calls.

 Forty percent of Boston students in the class of 2003 have yet to pass
the English or math portions of the Massachusetts
 Comprehensive Assessment System exam. Students have two more chances to
pass a retest before June, but Boston school
 officials are targeting the December retest, hoping to help some
students who are close to earning the 220 score required in
 each subject to pass.

 To help failing students, many who have logged a high number of school
absences or have not shown up to after-school
 MCAS courses, school officials turned to 14 different community,
religious, and business organizations, including the Black
 Ministerial Alliance, Alianza Hispana, and the Somali Development
Center.

 Starting today, volunteers from those groups will participate in a
two-day phone-athon, calling the families of failing Boston
 high school seniors and determining whether parents understand students
won't be able to graduate unless they pass the
 MCAS. They will also ask parents for permission to visit their homes
and will let them know support is available to help
 students pass, according to school officials.

 ''In the history of Massachusetts the stakes have never been so high
for our students,'' said Knowles. ''So we should be able
 to clear the decks, and think creatively.''

 But Wunsch, who called the campaign ''good-intentioned,'' said school
officials should not be releasing the names, phone
 numbers, and addresses of students to community volunteers who do not
work with them in a professional capacity.

 ''It looks like the school officials want to do something good,''
Wunsch said, ''but they come up with a lot of gimmicks,
 some of which violate the law, all in the name of helping kids pass the
MCAS.''

 This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 11/7/2002.
 © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the ARN-L list, send command SIGNOFF ARN-L
to LISTSERV@LISTS.CUA.EDU.