Various reactions had arisen from parents and other sectors after Judge Kimberly J. Mueller decreed allowing the release of the information of 10 million students in California.
Sherry Skelly Griffith, the executive director of the California State Parents Teacher Association, said that her office has been fielding multiple queries from the press and parents.
"It's just hard to fathom that a judge would allow such an overexposure of children's information," she said.
Meanwhile, one parent expressed his anger and dismay in a Facebook post, "You have no rights to my child's personal info. I am an advocate and this is still wrong of a certain group of parents to force all parents to now scramble to whether or not they want their own Personal child's personal private give(n) out."
Concerned Parents of California clarified that the information will be made available to fewer that ten people who will use it perform a statistical analysis of how California treats disabled students. However, the order does not state the manner in which the information will be released, or details regarding how safeguarding of the sensitive information will be carried out.
It is also restated in the order that the information must be made available to a court-appointed data analyst so that it can be analyzed on behalf of the Morgan Hill Concerned Parents Association.
Yet, refuted by an IT professional and a Danville parent, Steven Liao asked, "Where does that software sit, where does that data sit?"
"Once data has left the Department of Education, there's no way to confirm control over it. The data will migrate to where it's backed up," he noted, "and even if the analysts then destroy it once they're done, where is confirmation it's been destroyed?" he asked.
The plaintiffs of the case earlier alleged in the complaint stated that the California Department of Education has infringed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"), among other related laws, by failing to monitor, investigate, provide services to, and enforce the rights of children with disabilities consistent with its obligations under the law, and have requested access to these records in order to prove their case.
The Education Department officially stated, through its spokesperson Peter Tira, that they had been fighting vigorously to defend the privacy rights of students throughout California, but still they are under the compliance with the court order.
The information covers children who are attending, or who have attended, a California school at any time since January 1, 2008.
Including in such release the name, Social Security number, home address and behavior and discipline information, special education assessments and valuations, records pertaining to health, mental health and medical information and other demographic information of every student including children with disabilities.
The order stems from a now five-year-old legal battle between the Morgan Hill group and the California State Department of Education over whether students with disabilities receive the free and appropriate public education mandated under federal law.
The Morgan Hill group was joined in the case by California Concerned Parents Association, which advocates for students with disabilities state-wide.
