Student data company on the defensive at Assembly hearing
Jessica Bakeman
ALBANY—Representatives from the data-integration company inBloom Inc. explained their security protocols to lawmakers on Friday, in the hopes of calming anxieties about the protection of sensitive student information.
Under pressure from legislators and facing a lawsuit from parents, the state Education Department has delayed its plans to send personalized student information to inBloom until at least the summer. Lawmakers have issued a variety of proposals that would strengthen penalties for data breaches, allow parents or school districts the ability to opt out of the statewide database, or enact a one-year or longer moratorium on any participation with inBloom.
Representatives from the company testified at a public hearing in Manhattan on Friday hosted by the State Assembly Education Committee. Chair Catherine Nolan, a Democrat from Queens, had threatened to use the committee's subpoena power to compel inBloom to testify, after they denied her request to attend a hearing on data privacy in November. Company officials agreed to attend Friday's hearing, traveling from as far away as Florida.
Student data collection has become one of several contentious issues in the current legislative session, often tied to the state's implementation of the Common Core standards and new teacher evaluations. Peggy Brookins, an inBloom board member and one of the three representatives who attended the hearing, began her presentation on the defensive.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/02/8541125/student-data-company-defensive-assembly-hearing
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