Securing Student Data Is an Uphill Battle for Many Districts
Safeguarding student data is a tough task. What’s making the job even tougher, IT leaders say, is others throughout their districts don’t have their backs.
In a new report from the Consortium for School Networking, technology leaders cite a lack of support from the rest of the district as an impediment to establishing fundamental student-data-privacy practices.
“You can put all the [data-privacy tools] in place to prevent something, but at a certain point, you have to have the people follow the rules,” said Mickey Farmer, the systems technology and innovation director for the Cabarrus County district in North Carolina.
The report found that even though 77 percent of tech leaders said their districts had a process for vetting the privacy and security of technologies before bringing them in, only 55 percent said their teachers were aware of and used the vetting process.
And just under half of respondents (48 percent) said their districts have policies that address how data should be retained for use in student records, encryption of student data, and which district staff members have access to the data.
The report “underscores the urgent need for stronger leadership, training, and resources to protect student data in an increasingly digital world,” said CoSN CEO Keith Krueger.
Protecting student data is one of the top priorities for most district tech leaders, according to the report, with 88 percent ranking it as one of their top two priorities, and 46 percent ranking it No. 1.
But 1 in 5 district tech leaders said they lack support from their superintendents, and more than a quarter (28 percent) said they lack support from other departments, making the work of protecting student data across the district more difficult.
When implementing changes, such as new student- data privacy practices, “you need to get the leadership on board first,” said Don Langenhorst, the IT director for the Dedham district in Massachusetts. “That is essential.”
Time and insufficient staffing levels are also barriers to improving student-data privacy practices, according to 60 percent of the survey respondents.
Providing professional development to all staff members takes time, and especially with teachers, data-privacy training might not be at the top of their priority lists, district tech leaders say.
Federal Efforts Have Curbed Teen Vaping. Will Trump Administration Cuts Change That?
Federal efforts that have successfully driven down rates of youth vaping may be in peril after dramatic staffing cuts at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
HHS leadership placed Brian King, the director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products, on leave April 1 and cut dozens of employees from the center.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office of Smoking and Health “may have been eliminated entirely,” said Yolonda Richardson, the president and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Vaping emerged as a major challenge for schools in the last decade as educators were forced to navigate the disciplinary and health issues that arose when students used electronic cigarettes and trendy devices like Juuls during the school day.
But once-surging teen vaping rates dropped to a 10-year low in 2024, thanks in part to federal efforts to limit marketing to minors and regulate the sale of products with flavors like cotton candy and mango that are particularly appealing to young users, anti-smoking advocates said.
The cuts at HHS occurred as the U.S. Supreme Court largely upheld the FDA’s denial of applications by two e-cigarette companies to sell vaping products with fruit, candy, and dessert flavors in an April 2 ruling. Anti-vaping groups cheered that decision but warned that cuts to the federal regulatory and public-health programs may weaken future efforts.
HHS plans to cut a quarter of its full-time employees, consolidating and restructuring programs, the agency said last month. It did not detail how smoking and vaping prevention efforts would continue after the reorganization.
“The consolidation and cuts are designed not only to save money, but to make the organization more efficient and more responsive to Americans’ needs,” the agency said.
Public health advocates panned that framing.
“I completely disagree with anybody who has the nerve to try to state publicly that these indiscriminate actions are part of a strategic plan to build up health prevention,” said Mitchell Zeller, King’s predecessor at the FDA. “In fact, it’s the polar opposite.”
Democratic-Led States, Cities Push Back on Threats to Slash School Funding Over Diversity Issues
Some Democratic-led states and cities are pushing back on a Trump administration threat to cut education funding over diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, creating a standoff that could test how far the White House is willing to go to press its demands on the nation’s schools.
State leaders in Minnesota and New York said they will not comply with a U.S. Department of Education order to gather signatures from local school systems certifying compliance with civil rights laws, including the rejection of what the federal government calls “illegal DEI practices.” Chicago’s mayor promised to sue over any cuts. California told schools they don’t need to respond.
It amounts to some of the most forceful opposition yet as the Education Department uses federal funding as leverage to enact President Donald Trump’s agenda. The White House has targeted colleges and K-12 schools alike, but unlike universities that rely greatly on federal grants and contracts, school systems get the vast majority of their money from state and local sources.
In a letter last week to the Education Department, Minnesota’s schools chief said the Trump administration overstepped its authority, adding that there’s nothing illegal about DEI.
It follows a letter from New York state’s education office challenging the federal government’s latest demand. It said New York already has provided assurances that it follows federal law and “no further certification will be forthcoming.”
The Education Department initially gave states 10 days to submit the certification but later extended the deadline to April 24.
The Illinois board of education rebuked the federal agency, saying it’s “attempting to exert power over every district in the country—even as it claims it’s returning education to the states.”
The New York and Minnesota letters both cite past comments from Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education secretary during his first term, extolling the virtues of diversity and inclusion. The states argue the Education Department is shifting its position without explanation.
The states also accuse the Education Department of making broad declarations about the illegality of DEI without citing policies that violate federal law.
More Teachers Getting Trained on Use of AI
Districts have taken the AI plunge. The number that trained teachers on generative artificial intelligence more than doubled from 2023 to 2024, a new analysis from the RAND Corp. finds.
In fall 2024, 48 percent of districts reported they had trained teachers on AI use—up from 23 percent the previous fall. If districts follow their plans for the current school year, nearly three-quarters will have provided AI training to educators by this fall.
While generative AI became mainstream in late 2022 with the launch of ChatGPT, 7 in 10 teachers had not received any training on how to use AI in the classroom by spring 2024, according to a nationally representative survey from the EdWeek Research Center. By fall 2024, though, 43 percent of teachers said they had received at least one training session on AI.
Both teachers and principals are increasingly using the technology in their day-to-day work. While principals use it for administrative tasks like making schedules or crunching large datasets, teachers are more likely to use AI to generate lesson plans and customize lessons for students.
Even so, most districts took a gradual approach to introducing their teachers to AI.
RAND also conducted in-depth interviews with 14 district leaders on how they crafted their training in 2024. Instead of jumping straight into AI tools and their use, they focused first on tackling teachers’ concerns about the technology.
All but one of the 14 leaders said they encountered “negative views of AI and reported that some teachers view it as a threat to traditional teaching methods or a tool for student cheating.”
Still, the RAND report shows that such training is unevenly distributed—compared with nearly 67 percent of low-poverty districts that have introduced AI training for teachers, only 39 percent of high-poverty districts were able to do the same.
District Reviewing Policy Ensnaring Welcome Signs
An Idaho district that made international headlines for its order to take down classroom welcome signs now says the policy is under review. But it’s keeping discussions under wraps.
Sarah Inama, a world civilization teacher at Lewis and Clark Middle School, said West Ada district administrators told her in February to remove two signs because they “don’t allow people to express differing opinions” and are “controversial in today’s political climate.” One sign says “Everyone is welcome here,” above hands with different skin tones, and another says, “In this room, everyone is welcome, important, accepted, respected, encouraged, valued,” with each word highlighted in a different color.
Since then, Inama, who has refused to remove the signs, has received an outpouring of support. But administrators have also stood firm that the signs violate district policy on “content-neutral” classroom displays.
Now, West Ada spokeswoman Niki Scheppers says that policy is being “discussed”—as part of a larger policy review. What exactly may come out of those discussions is not yet clear.
Marcus Myers, the district’s chief academic officer, told Inama that her signs violated a West Ada policy requiring signs be “content-neutral and conducive to a positive learning environment,” as well as a 2021 Idaho law that inspired the policy.
In 2022, West Ada’s school board voted to add the requirement of content neutrality to its classroom-display policy, despite some pushback from the teachers’ union.
Myers and Scheppers have stated that the reason Inama’s “Everyone is welcome here” sign violated policy was not because of its welcoming message but rather its imagery: the hands with different skin tones. Scheppers said that imagery “aligns with themes commonly associated with DEI initiatives,” or diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“What it means to have different color hands open might have been something different when I was younger, and now they represent different political movements,” she said.
