"Privacy...the limitation of others' access to an individual with three key elements: secrecy, anonymity, and solitude. Anonymity refers to the protection from undesired attention, solitude is the lack of physical proximity to others, and secrecy (or confidentiality) involves limiting the dissemination of knowledge about oneself." Ruth Gavison in Weckert, Chapter Five.

 Privacy issues related to technology and education involving students of all ages and their educators must be carefully considered in order to ensure that student and teacher information is handled in a responsible and prudent manner by all those directly or indirectly involved in the education of a child within the school setting. Students and parents should be well informed of the district mission, rules and regulations and local Acceptable Use Policy affecting students in classrooms, other educational settings, and when involved in any form of distance learning experiences. We exist in a world where access to hardware, software and the Internet can put demands on educators in providing appropriate learning resources for students.

Due to the magnification of accessibility to the Internet the issue of student and educator privacy rights penetrates the entire community encompassing students, adults and the global arena as we continue to prepare students for life learning collaborative experiences of the future.

The ethical educator

• strives to support student privacy in data collection. This is reinforced by not openly displaying grades and individual student profiles (assessment data and discipline records). Respect of students' rights to privacy is paramount in collection, access and displaying of student data and personal information. Personal student data must be treated with strictest confidentiality and disclosed only to the proper authorities.

• utilizes student academic profiles and assessment performances responsibly. The use of student assessment information should be accessed by those specifically responsible for acquiring the data. Data should be stored on a system utilizing access codes and in alignment with district policy. Educators and students should demonstrate and advocate for legal and ethical behavior among peers, family and community regarding the use of student profiles and related information.

• acts responsibly in accessing and displaying student work and personal identifying information to be posted on the Internet with respect to anonymity and personal identification. Students should have the right to be protected and safe, which means there should be a limit on how much personal identifying information is posted on the internet. Students ought to have the protection of a signed permission waiver developed by the district, in support of district rules and regulations and local AUP directives for all work to be displayed.

• respects privacy rights in regards to student information located and stored in databases and other electronic means. Student files should have district-developed restrictions of access, collection, storage and retrieval of data. This may include personal journals (including electronic journals, e-portfolios, reflections, etc.) posts, electronic and other means - reports of student grades - both individual and group assessments utilizing a system that is accessible only to those in need of the knowledge. The individual posting of grades is not recommended using specific identifying means. In respect to student privacy, an alternative to grades may be posted visually using a coded number or system as long as no personal identifying means are used.

• assists in the restriction of sending individual student data via the Internet when involved in distance learning opportunities. It is the professional educator's responsibility to create classroom profiles and set up screen names when involved in distance learning projects so as not to identify any individual student's personal information. All opportunities for distance learning should be approved and within the confines of district policy.

• promotes and reinforces the safety of student files, such as individual files where student-created work is saved, by encouraging students to not share passwords with other students. Students should protect their own right to privacy by keeping their passwords private. Additionally, students open themselves up to potential security problems when they loan out their passwords to others.

• strives to be aware of the social, legal and ethical issues related to technology use, and keeps informed about present laws at the federal and state levels involving privacy issues in education. With the increasing use of technology and integrated use of the internet into classroom lessons and research, new lawsuits and challenges in this area will be developing daily. Educators must be vigilant of state and federal laws in the area of privacy and devleop avenues and connections for the most current information regarding privacy issues.

• should not be electronically monitored unless there is probable cause. To monitor teachers electronically--through screen shots, emails and other methods--undermines that teacher's right to privacy. Teachers ought to be able to work in an environment free from the distrust that might come from being monitored frequently, unless the administration has legal cause to believe that monitoring is necessary.

Personal privacy concerns are quickly becoming a highly debated issue brought about by the advances in technology due to increased development of better software and equipment. For this reason, strict adherence to a code of conduct and use and abuse in access, storage, retrieval and removal of personal information is imperative.

"The key to online safety is recognizing that communications in the online world have a unique characteristic that can lead to irresponsible behavior: anonymity. When children cannot validate the physical location or identity of an individual on the other end of the message, difficulties can arise. Until there is a way to authenticate the identities of internet users without compromising safety or privacy, communicating with complete integrity will remain problematic...

Children must learn that ethical behavior in the electronic world is as important as ethical behavior in the physical world. Internet manners are essentially the same as face-to-face manners. But with the autonomy of cyberspace, it is undeniably more challenging for children to build trusting relationships and in turn, behave responsibly with no one looking, so to speak." Jim Teicher, "An Action Plan for Smart Internet Use" Educational Leadership, February, 1999.