As Feds Crack Down on Huge Ed Tech Data Breach, Parents and Students Left Out
There鈥檚 an innate tension between school safety and students鈥� civil rights. The 74鈥檚 Mark Keierleber keeps you up to date on the news you need to know
;)
Education news and commentary, delivered right to your inbox.
Sign up for The 74 newsletter.
School (in)Security is our biweekly briefing on the latest school safety news, vetted by Mark Keierleber.听Subscribe here.
The Federal Trade Commission announced this month plans to over a massive 2021 data breach. The move added to a long list of government actions against the firm since hackers broke into its systems and made off with the sensitive information of more than 10 million students.
Three state attorneys general have also now imposed fines and security mandates on the company following allegations it misled customers about its cybersecurity safeguards and waited nearly two years to notify some school districts of the widespread data breach.
The in their efforts to hold Illuminate accountable are parents and students.
Their pursuit hit a wall in September when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a federal lawsuit filed by the breach victims. The court, ruling on a case filed in California, found that the theft of their personal data 鈥� including grades, special education information and medical records 鈥� didn鈥檛 constitute a concrete harm.
In the news
The latest in President Donald Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown: In many cities across the country, from New Orleans to Minneapolis, resisting federal immigration enforcement means keeping kids in school. |
- Trump鈥檚 mass deportation effort has had a particularly damaging effect on the child care industry, which is heavily reliant on immigrant preschool teachers 鈥� most of them working in the U.S. legally 鈥� who have found themselves 鈥渨racked by anxiety over possible encounters with ICE.鈥� |
- 鈥楥ulture of fear鈥�: Immigrant students across the country have increasingly found themselves targets of bullying since the beginning of Trump鈥檚 second term, according to a new survey of high school principals. |
A Kansas middle school will no longer assign Chromebooks to each student: Computers have had 鈥渁 wonderful place in education,鈥� the school鈥檚 principal said. But schools have 鈥渟imply immersed students too much in technology.鈥� |
A Florida middle school went into lockdown after an automated threat detection system was triggered by a clarinet. A student was walking in the hallway 鈥渉olding a musical instrument as if it were a weapon.鈥� |
Sign-up for the School (in)Security newsletter.
Get the most critical news and information about students' rights, safety and well-being delivered straight to your inbox.
鈥楪ot what he deserved鈥�: A California teacher has filed a federal First Amendment lawsuit against her school after she was suspended for a Facebook post calling right-wing political activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk a 鈥減ropaganda-spewing racist misogynist鈥� a day after he was murdered. |
- In Florida, two teachers have filed separate First Amendment lawsuits after they were punished for social media posts critical of Kirk after his death. |
- Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott announced a partnership with Turning Point USA to create local chapters of the group at every high school campus in the state, vowing “meaningful disciplinary action鈥� against any educators who stand in the way. |
- Kirk鈥檚 wife, Erika Kirk, will field questions from 鈥測oung evangelicals, prominent religious leaders and figures across the political spectrum鈥� during a live town hall Saturday on CBS News moderated by its new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss. |
- ICYMI: The Trump administration鈥檚 First Amendment crackdown in the wake of the activist鈥檚 violent death has left student free speech on even shakier ground. |
Following a shakeup in its ranks by vaccine skeptic and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee voted to overturn a decades-long recommendation that newborn babies be immunized for hepatitis B 鈥� a policy credited with decimating the highly contagious virus in infants. |
- A measles outbreak in South Carolina schools is accelerating, with some unvaccinated students in a second 21-day quarantine since the beginning of the academic year. |
A photo that circulated online depicted California high school students lying in the shape of a swastika on the grass of a football field. Chaos ensued. |
鈥業t feels nasty. It’s gross.鈥�: Controversy has come to a head at a California high school after an adult film producer rented out the campus gym for a raunchy livestream. 鈥淭he first thing I see is a full-grown adult, an adult man wearing a baby costume and being fed milk from a baby bottle,鈥� one student observer noted. |
Two Texas teenagers allegedly conspired to carry out a school shooting at their high school but the plot was thwarted after classmates reported text messages with their plans to school police. 鈥淒on鈥檛 come to school on Monday,鈥� one of the messages warned. |
ICYMI @The74
Emotional Support
Did you use this article in your work?
We鈥檇 love to hear how The 74鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.
