New York State Education Law 2-D pertains to the unauthorized release of personally identifiable information. 

 The Board of Regents adopted Part 121 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education on January 13, 2020. These rules will implement Education Law Section 2-d and provide guidance to educational agencies and their third-party contractors on ways to strengthen data privacy and security to protect student data and annual professional performance review data. The regulation went through multiple sets of revisions and three rounds of public comments and will go into effect on January 29, 2020.  It will apply to both charter and traditional public schools. We thank the members of the Data Privacy Advisory Council, for implementation planning and drafting workgroups that supported the Department’s Chief Privacy Officer, through this process.

NYS Education Law Section 2-d Inventory of Data Elements

The Sodus Central School District seeks to use current technology, including electronic storage, retrieval, and analysis of information about students’ education experience to enhance the opportunities for learning and to increase the efficiency of our operations.

The Sodus Central School District seeks to ensure that parents have information about how the District stores, retrieves, and uses information about students, and to meet all legal requirements for maintaining the privacy and security of protected student data and protected principal and teacher data, including Section 2‐d of the New York State Education Law.

To further these goals, the Sodus Central School District has posted this Parents’ Bill of Rights for Data Privacy and Security.

Parents (including legal guardians or persons in parental relationships) and Eligible Students (students 18 years and older) can expect the following:

1. A student’s personally identifiable information (PII) cannot be sold or released for any Commercial or Marketing purpose. PII, as defined by Education Law § 2-d and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ("FERPA"), includes direct identifiers such as a student’s name or identification number, parent’s name, or address; and indirect identifiers such as a student’s date of birth, which when linked to or combined with other information can be used to distinguish or trace a student’s identity. Please see FERPA’s regulations at 34 CFR 99.3 for a more complete definition.

2. The right to inspect and review the complete contents of the student’s education record stored or maintained by an educational agency. This right may not apply to Parents of an Eligible Student.

3. State and federal laws such as Education Law § 2-d; the Commissioner of Education’s Regulations at 8 NYCRR Part 121, FERPA at 12 U.S.C. 1232g (34 CFR Part 99); Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA") at 15 U.S.C. 6501- 6502 (16 CFR Part 312); Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment ("PPRA") at 20 U.S.C. 1232h (34 CFR Part 98); and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) at 20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq. (34 CFR Part 300); protect the confidentiality of a student’s identifiable information.

4. Safeguards associated with industry standards and best practices including, but not limited to, encryption, firewalls and password protection must be in place when student PII is stored or transferred.

5. A complete list of all student data elements collected by NYSED is available at http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/programs/data-privacy-security/inventory-of-data-elements- collected-by-nysed_0.pdf and by writing to: Chief Privacy Officer, New York State Education Department, 89 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12234.

6. The right to have complaints about possible breaches and unauthorized disclosures of PII addressed. (i) Complaints should be submitted to Dr. Breana Mullen, Data Protection Officer, Sodus Central School District, P.O. Box 220, Sodus NY 14551. (ii) Complaints may also be submitted to the NYS Education Department at https://www.nysed.gov/data-privacy-security/parents-and-students-file-privacy-complaint, by mail to: Chief Privacy Officer, New York State Education Department, 89 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12234; by email to privacy@nysed.gov; or by telephone at 518-474-0937.

7. To be notified in accordance with applicable laws and regulations if a breach or unauthorized release of PII occurs.

8. Educational agency workers that handle PII will receive training on applicable state and federal laws, policies, and safeguards associated with industry standards and best practices that protect PII.

9. Educational agency contracts with vendors that receive PII will address statutory and regulatory data privacy and security requirements.

Our region has partnered with the Access 4 Learning Community, Student Data Privacy Consortium to house our software registry. The registry is updated throughout the year: