State Mandated Data System Violated Board Policy and State Statutes

Situation:  The Minnesota Department of Education mandated that all Adult Basic Education programs adopt the new Student Information Database (SID) for collecting, reporting, and sharing student data.

Problem:  SID's implementation shared ABE student records amongst all ABE programs in the state, including the student's personally indentifable information and educational records.  This was a violation of Bloomington School Board policy and two state statutes.

The Outcome:  I worked with our ABE Director, Director of Community Education, and outside counsel to resolve the issue.

•     Immediately cancelled plans to switch to SID at Metro South ABE

•     Worked with Bloomington's attorney, who concurred with the findings

•     MDE's Adult Basic Education office made changes to SID that brought the software into compliance with state statutes