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After complaint, BOE changes online policyJul 14, 2011 (The Dominion Post - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- It seems one can find almost anything on the Internet these days; you just have to "Google" it. But when one parent recently found her child's name and address in the minutes of a Monongalia County Board of Education (BOE) meeting using the Google search engine, the BOE was forced to evaluate its own online security procedures. The BOE decided not to release the name of the student whose information was "searchable" or the name of the student's mother who filed the complaint, according to BOE member Nancy Walker. Walker said the mother of the student was innocently "Googling" her child's name to see what she could find when she noticed the student's name and address was included in the minutes of a BOE meeting. "We want to protect students' information as best that we can," she added. "A student's address does not belong in public records." The student in question was transfering schools, and it had been customary to include "directory information" of transfer students in the minutes of board meetings, Superintendent Frank Devono said. "We tried to Google other names of students and no other names came up, so we don't know why this particular name was made publicly available," he said. "There have not been any other complaints from parents about this issue." The Dominion Post also searched several Monongalia County student names on Google and found nothing linked to the BOE. To prevent any further problems, student transfer information will now be sent to BOE members as a separate "addendum" or an attachment to keep students' names and addresses from being published on the Internet, Devono said. The new measure, decided at Tuesday's meeting, is a temporary fix until a more secure procedure can be found, according to BOE members. "Making sure our students' information is secure is one of our top priorities," Devono said. "This is something we will continue to monitor." To see more of The Dominion Post or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dominionpost.com/. Copyright (c) 2011, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. |