CDT Written Testimony - PA AdCo to US Comm. on Civil Rights

The attached report provides recommendations that are intended to assist education leaders in assessing their current policies and practices with respect to nondiscrimination obligations and the use of data and technology — with the ultimate goal of supporting the success of all students. [...] This type of neutral policy can have a disparate impact on students with psychological disabilities and emotional disorders, such as depression, especially where the lack of contextual analysis of a student’s writing or activity leads the humans in charge to report the content to the student’s parents regardless of the veracity of the flag. [...] In fact, the Florida Department of Education was legally required in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act to create a statewide data repository to include information from the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Children and Families, the Department of Law Enforcement, and social media information in response to the Parkland school shooting. [...] Department of Education ruled that it will resolve conflicts between the Civil Rights Act and FERPA in favor of the Civil Rights Act,68 stating that “[t]he General Education Provisions Act (GEPA), of which FERPA is a part, states: ‘Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to affect the applicability of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, … or o. [...] The following recommendations are intended to assist education leaders in assessing their current policies and practices with respect to nondiscrimination obligations and the use of data and technology — with the ultimate goal of supporting the success of all students.