Responding to SOPIPA

​Currently, my district does not have a list of approved websites or applications to be used by students.  Additionally, to my knowledge, my district has not yet responded to California’s Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA).  Teachers are permitted and encouraged to use online educational services, including those to which the district has subscribed and free online tools.  As a result, a well-meaning teacher could ask her students to register to use a non-SOPIPA compliant online learning tool to complete a learning task. The information provided when creating student profiles could be used for non-educational purposes, including being made publicly available to potential predators or sold to marketing companies.  This could lead to an unsafe situation for one of our students or a potential lawsuit for the district. Sharing these threats with my district's leadership team would encourage them to proactively respond to SOPIPA.  To guide their response, I would advise them to follow the following steps: 

1. Survey teachers to collect the names and URLS on online educational services/websites they are currently using
   
2. Check the privacy policy of each service to evaluate its SOPIPA status
   
3. Create and share lists of currently approved and unapproved websites  
   
4. Plan and host professional development and/or a webinar to provide an overview of student data privacy regulations with administrators, coaches, teachers, and certificated staff
   
5. Create an approved website request form and post it on the district's website
   
6. Update the list as sites become SOPIPA complaint