Earlier this week, the National School Boards Association issued a publication entitled “Data Security for Schools: A Legal and Policy Guide for School Boards.” The guide offers school boards information to help them ensure that their districts have sound policies and practices in place to protect all the data created, collected and stored as part of school operations and to respond appropriately in the event of a data breach.
The guide addresses the following frequently asked questions:
- What data security risks do school districts face?
- What is data governance? Does my district need a data governance plan?
- What should my district do to safeguard the security of data?
- What kids of data security policies and procedures should a district have in place?
- What must a district do to notify its community in the event of a data breach?
- What remedial services must a district offer to data breach victims?
- What should a district do in the event of a data breach?
The new guide is a companion to NSBA’s 2014 publication entitled “Data in the Cloud: A legal and Policy Guide for School Boards on Student Data Privacy in the Cloud Computing Era,” which addresses the crucial issues associated with student privacy when districts use online educational services.
Local school districts are susceptible to data breaches and face consequences ranging from regulatory scrutiny, private lawsuits, and distrust of stakeholders like parents, students, teachers and administrators. In addition to providing links to these guides, OSBA will be providing additional information on district data breaches at its upcoming Cyberlaw Workshop, which will be held this year on March 17.