Student Data Privacy
The Ball-Chatham School District considers the safety and privacy of our students to be of the highest importance. The online and digital environment provided to our faculty and students is designed to provide safe learning experiences for all. Student online protection and student data privacy are protected by important laws and regulations.
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Governs information in a student's education record, restricting access and use of student information.
Student Online Personal Protection Act (SOPPA)
Guarantees that student data is protected when collected by educational technology companies, and that the data is used for beneficial, school-related purposes only.
Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)
Requires that school Districts filter internet content to prevent students from accessing obscene, objectionable, or harmful materials online.
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
Restricts the collection of personal information from children under 13 by companies operating websites, games, mobile applications, and digital services that are directed or marketed to children.
What is SOPPA?
What happens to the student data that we send to a third-party vendor? Information like names, birthdates, etc. may be provided by Ball-Chatham CUSD5 to a third party such as Skyward or SeeSaw? What protections do these companies have in place to make sure that our students' data is not sold or freely distributed to others? These are the items that SOPPA addresses.
As part of SOPPA, these companies must enter into Data Privacy Agreements (DPAs) with each school district they work with. These agreements outline what data is collected, how it is protected, what the company can do with the data, and what they will need to do in the event of a data breach.
The Ball-Chatham School District leverages the Student Data Privacy Consortium to identify and sign data privacy agreements with vendors. If you would like to view the Data Privacy Agreements (DPAs) that Ball-Chatham currently holds, please click here. Please note this list is always changing, and there are many more appropriate digital learning tools that we are in the process of signing DPAs for.
Data Breaches
Ball-Chatham CUSD5 will post data here about data breaches involving 10% or more of the District's students, including the number of students whose covered information was involved in the breach, date of breach (or estimate), and operator/vendor name.
Parent/Guardian Rights
Parents/Guardians can request to review and correct any information maintained by the District or any online application provider by contacting the Ball-Chatham Technology Director, Josh Mulvaney at jmulvaney@bcsd5.org.