Parents should be aware of the dangers of the Internet especially now that children as young as 5 are using iPads and Chromebooks in school. See our additional sections on Internet Safety for Children and EBSCO, GALE and MN ELibrary for helps to monitor and keep your child safe.

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Privacy Rights

  • The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and
    The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA)

FERPA, a federal privacy law, that afforded parents the right to:

    • Have access to their children’s education records,
    • Confirm the accuracy and seek to have the records amended,
    • Review and appeal the information, and
    • Consent to the disclosure of personally identifiable information

What Is FERPA (PDF), provided by the Capitol Resource Institute, explains what each of these rights meant. The newer PPRA amendment protects against data that isn’t required.

The Student Data Privacy Project explains more about FERPA and also provides parents with sample templates and letters to request your child’s data from school.

What you need to know.

    • The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) was originally a strong bill that blocked any school from disclosing Personally Identifiable Information (PII) from a student’s educational records to any non-school official without parental notification or consent.
    • In 2008 and 2009 the bill was amended and consequently left useless by allowing schools to share data with third party companies and organizations.
    • Medical and counseling records included in your child’s education records are not protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
    • The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) protects students from having to reveal personal information without parental consent IF it is required, funded by the federal government, and collects data such as political affiliations and religious beliefs.
    • Most surveys given to students are NOT required and therefore are not protected by PPRA.
    • Schools are only required to notify parents of a survey being given and allow parents to opt their children out.
    • Schools often slip this information in with multiple forms or handbooks in the beginning of the year to meet federal requirements and often goes unnoticed by parents.
    • PPRA gives you the right to stop the data mining of your child, but you have to enforce it. Excerpt from page 6 of Data Mining Your Child (PDF)
  • Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
    Technology is moving so fast but is it eroding our privacy? EPIC seeks to protect privacy, freedom of expression, and democratic values in the information age and is a good resource concerning privacy issues.
  • Privacy and Mental Health Research on Child Harm and Legal Liability
    ©The Reisman Institute 2019
    Authors: Judith A. Reisman, Ph.D. and Mary E. McAlister, Esq.

Child Protection League has released and published this landmark, comprehensive and exhaustive scientific and legal research on the harm done to children when their privacy is violated.

Please use this thoroughly documented report as a resource for legislation, administrative policies, school policies, lawsuits, and business policies being considered or challenged. This resource is useful for research, writing, forums, debates and campaigns for public office. Please always give proper credit to the authors.

This comprehensive white paper equips lawmakers, administrators, judges, juries, educators, business leaders, and the public with a previously unavailable type of research. Adults responsible for the health and well-being of children must account for policies, practices, and curricula that threaten the emotional, physical, mental, and immunological health of children in their care. This paper provides the necessary evidence that these unjustified, antiscientific privacy invasion experiments must be ceased immediately before one more child is harmed. [p. 61]

Data Collecting

  • Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Data Collection
    Each child’s responses are collected in a “data dashboard” and measured to see whether the child demonstrates change in regard to attitudes, feelings and behaviors. The results are entered into a national SEL data bank, often to 3rd party vendors. Find additional information under Social and Emotional Learning.
  • Is Your Child Unsafe at the Doctor’s Office? Invasive Teen Questionnaire

The HealthPartner’s policy is one of many who are now requiring clinicians to administer a pre-teen/teen invasive health questionnaire answered only by the adolescent. The parent is then asked to leave the child alone with the clinician so the clinician can engage the child “one-on-one” about the answers and personal concerns.

With whom is this data being shared? State law allows the Minnesota Department of Health to require providers and health plans to “provide patient health records and claim files.” M.S. 62J.321 Data Collection & Processing Procedures

Beware of doctors that won’t let you as a parent accompany your child to the clinical area. The HIPPA Privacy Act is supposed to protect us from tyranny or any unethical deeds done by doctors and any other outside parties. It is absurd to think that a child’s privacy is being violated by having their own parent with them.

Please read the following for details so you can protect your child!

• Is Your Child Unsafe at the Doctor’s Office?
• Questionnaire (PDF)
• Letter: Parents beware of new health survey (PDF)
• When the Sign Says “No Parents Allowed”

Opt Outs

  • Minnesota Student Survey
    Did you know that there is an invasive survey that the schools administer every three years to students that ask intimate questions of your child? The test is administered January to June.OPT OUT your children from this Minnesota Student Survey!

The Minnesota Student Survey is run by a partnership of four state agencies: the Minnesota Departments of Education, Health, Public Safety, and Human Services. Read our 2022 CPL Article about these surveys then go to the Minnesota 2022 Student Survey site for contact information. The survey is voluntary but who makes that decision – you need to let them know NO for your child.

Do you trust the schools with intimate details about your child? Read the “versions that are available to review” below to see what kind of questions they ask—read to the very end!

  • FOIA/Open Records Requests
    It is your right to view public records. If you are having difficulty being allowed to see school records such as the surveys given to your child, the curriculum used, etc., submit what is called an Open Records or Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Use the link to help you with the process….
  • Comprehensive Sexual Health Education (CSE) and Your Rights as a Parent
    You have a legal right to know what health curriculum and resources your school is using. Please check with your own school. Many have been surprised to learn that their own schools have already adopted CSE curriculum. Take it before other parents, your school administrators and your school boards if necessary. CSE is not a MN mandate…yet. You still have a voice and you still have parental rights in directing the education of your children.

With the ever-expanding use of CSE in schools, it is important to know what the Minnesota state law currently states.

MN law 120A.22, Subdivion 1
The parent of a child is primarily responsible for assuring that the child acquires knowledge and skills that are essential for effective citizenship.

MN law 120B.20
Each school district shall have a procedure for a parent, guardian, or an adult student, 18 years of age or older, to review the content of the instructional materials to be provided to a minor child or to an adult student and, if the parent, guardian, or adult student objects to the content, to make reasonable arrangements with school personnel for alternative instruction. Alternative instruction may be provided by the parent, guardian, or adult student if the alternative instruction, if any, offered by the school board does not meet the concerns of the parent, guardian, or adult student. The school board is not required to pay for the costs of alternative instruction provided by a parent, guardian, or adult student. School personnel may not impose an academic or other penalty upon a student merely for arranging alternative instruction under this section. School personnel may evaluate and assess the quality of the student’s work.

  • Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Mindfulness Training
    Sample letter to opt out a student from SEL mindfulness and Buddhist meditation training provided by Jan Markell with Olive Tree Ministries. (attached in both Word and PDF)
  • Keep Your Children Home on the Day of Silence
    Each year, usually in April, schools across the country allow students and teachers to refuse to speak all day. The Day of Silence is a tool of the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to force all school children, their parents, teachers and administrators to support and affirm this ideology by remaining silent. By refusing to speak, they marginalize those who disagree

Gender & Privacy Policies

The gender ideology is in most of our schools indoctrinating our children even at the elementary level. What is the pronoun mandate? Are your children safe when male students can use female restrooms and locker rooms because the male student decides he now identifies as a female despite his male biological body? Be aware of these policies in your schools and communities that embrace this dangerous new trend.

  • The “Toolkit” Agenda
    Despite strong opposition, the Toolkit to Ensure Safe and Supportive Schools for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students was passed in Minnesota by an unelected, governor appointed Minnesota Department of Education committee. It’s not just about bathrooms and locker rooms. It’s about indoctrination into a dangerous gender ideology. The pronoun mandate is the most dangerous part of the Toolkit. Use this extensive resource to educate yourself on the issues.
  • A Critical Review of Schools In Transition Guidebook (PDF)
    CPL published review of the guidebook Schools in Transition (PDF) recommended by the MN Department of Education (MDE) as a credible resource. Radical gender activist groups such as the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gender Spectrum, and the LGBT & HIV Project published this guidebook for schools across the country to use in setting school policies that endorse and promote transgender ideology.
  • School Counselors – Sources of Indoctrination
    The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) trains school counselors to hide students’ sex and gender preferences from parents. What you can do.
    • Do not allow your child to have any sessions with school counselors without your presence.
    • Fill out the 3-day demand form to ensure your participation in your child’s wellbeing.
  • Disturbing video shows risk to girls & women posed by co-ed restrooms & locker rooms (23 minutes)
    from the Illinois Family Institute