COVID-19 Update
Following Governor Lamont's Executive Order 7I, allowing flexibility related to the Student Data Privacy Act, Commissioner Cardona has issued guidance to schools through his memo of March 24, 2020. Under that guidance and until further notice, districts may bypass the process of crafting individual contracts for new technology solutions that fall under the data privacy statute. Instead, they can use educational technology from companies that have provided digital assurances that they comply with Connecticut’s law by signing the Connecticut Student Data Privacy Pledge. See the following sections for resources to assist public schools and educational technology providers.
If the technology solution is listed in the portal below, it is open for use:
https://connecticut.learnplatform.com/
The Somers Public School District is committed to protecting privacy and developing technology that gives students the most powerful and safe educational experience. The District complies with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which has a goal of protecting a student's educational records. Although FERPA regulations apply only to students, Somers Public Schools is equally committed to protecting the privacy of all data.
For more details on FERPA, please visit the U.S. Department of Education's FERPA webpage.
Somers Board of Education policies with regards to privacy can be found:
DBS Code: 3520.12 Data-Based Information Management System - Confidentiality Policy
DBS Code: 3520.13 Data-Based Information and Management System - Student Data Protection and Privacy/Cloud-based Issues
One of the District's goals is to integrate technology throughout the district and expand the use of technology in the classroom to sustain a 21st century learning environment. In order to reach this goal, the following systems may be used by the district. Please contact the student's classroom teacher if you would like more detail about which services are being used.