I am going to write a “thank you card” to someone today – not sure to whom yet, but I know this for certain: I am going to write the card (in my own handwriting), put it in a stamped envelope, and drop it in a mailbox. This will not be done digitally nor electronically. At the risk of sounding like a Luddite, and possibly a hypocrite, I think that properly thanking someone is becoming a lost art. Even still, an email or blog post that expresses a debt of gratitude is better than no “thank you” at all, but there is something special about a hand-written “thank you card” from someone who is truly grateful. Perhaps I am feeling this way because Thanksgiving is upon us and I am excited to spend time with my family. Beyond this, I just cannot imagine that something as important as an expression of gratitude has been trivialized as just another data point in cyberspace. Digital data is becoming increasingly and overwhelmingly unmanageable for many of us which puts all of us at-risk for cyber-threats. Writing a “thank you card” is, for me, a small act of self-help and may even offer some much-needed life-balance to what feels like a deluge of random electronic email data (OK…I am offering this suggestion via this digital blog post which you may be reading from our www.socsd.org website or possibly even a social media site – the irony of this is not lost on me).
Writing a note of gratitude can be very therapeutic. Additionally, there is also a sense of intimacy, privacy and security offered by a handwritten note – it can’t be easily cc’d or cut-and-pasted to a digital distribution list. Privacy is important – it is a right that each of us are entitled to, especially our students, their families and our staff. This week, I attended a focus group session sponsored by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) along with several staff and our board of education member, Mrs. Christine Lee. We offered feedback to our NYSED representatives voicing our concerns about student and staff privacy and our need to better protect personal data statewide. In addition to making our voices heard, we were alarmed to learn that, according to the Educator Toolkit for Teacher and Student Privacy, student data is at risk because:
- Students generate a lot of data
- Student data is profitable
- Student data can be used for high-stakes decision-making
- Student data is shared with the state education departments and beyond
- Student data is vulnerable to exploitation
- Student data can be extremely sensitive and personal
- Student data can be repurposed
- Student data can stay online indefinitely
- Student ownership can be unclear
- Student data can be used to stereotype
For better or for worse, solving the data privacy issues associated with our online personas is a little bit like trying to put the toothpaste back into the tube. Nevertheless, there are actions that we can take as a school district, and as individuals, to make life in the digital age a little more bearable. As a school district, we are engaged in legislative advocacy at the state and federal levels to provide additional resources to protect our student data management systems from malicious attacks (such as ransomware and other data security breaches). School districts do not have the financial capacity nor the technical expertise to engage in full-time cyber warfare against hackers and we are strongly requesting assistance from the New York State Education Department to enable additional funding, expertise, and advanced technical solutions to serious cyber threats. We exercise great caution and care when handling student data, but given the nature of the threat, this may not be enough (as witnessed in recent attacks against school districts in various parts of the country). Further, we are training our staff and students to not click on suspicious emails or web-based promotions that could compromise our students’/staff’s personal privacy.
On a related note, I am suggesting that we all make a more concerted effort to reconnect with each other (in the analog real-world) on Thanksgiving and every day. While I’m not suggesting that we dispose of our mobile phones (I may just turn mine off for a day or two during the upcoming Thanksgiving recess) it may be a good opportunity to spend less time online. To kick this off, I have attached a photo of a “Thank You Card” (see picture below). Please feel free to print this out at home and, in your best penmanship, tell someone how grateful you are. Happy Thanksgiving and, if you don’t get a handwritten “thank you card” from me in the near future via the U.S. Postal Service, hopefully I will get the chance to tell you in-person how much I appreciate each of you for your support of our amazing school district.
