91制片

Inside 91制片

In November 2022, 91制片 created the Student & Child Privacy Center, which aims to educate the organization鈥檚 members about the laws and policies that affect the confidentiality of student records.

The most prevalent issues currently affecting student privacy include the growing use of artificial intelligence technology, how to handle record retention through integrated data systems and issues related to education technology鈥檚 use of data.

The center鈥檚 three-person team, part of the association鈥檚 public policy staff, includes chief counsel Amelia Vance, director Katherine Kalpos and project director Morgan Leftwich.

The Student & Child Privacy Center is fully funded through partnerships with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and WestEd.

Jacqueline Hyman, senior editorial assistant at School Administrator, interviewed the three staffers about their work. Their responses have been edited for clarity and length.

What brought you to 91制片 as part of the privacy project?

Amelia Vance: I鈥檝e been working in student and child privacy for about a decade now. When I left the Future of Privacy Forum last year, I knew I wanted to do more of the work I had been doing but at less of a broad scale, so Noelle Ellerson Ng (91制片鈥檚 associate executive director of advocacy and governance) was one of the first people I met with, and she was really interested in providing superintendents with more opportunities to receive the technical assistance they might need.

Katherine Kalpos: I worked with Amelia on privacy for the past couple years and had a working relationship with Noelle. Having had those previous ties, it was really a natural fit. I was grants manager at the American Political Science Association.

Morgan Leftwich: I went to Penn State Law School, where Amelia was one of my professors. Afterward, I studied for the bar and then began working as a privacy consultant. I worked for Amelia after that and with Katherine.

What are the goals of the Student & Child Privacy Center, a new program for 91制片?

Leftwich: It鈥檚 about making sure people have access to information so they are in the loop and can voice opinions about how things will affect them. Kids spend a lot of time in school and if things accidentally impact schools, we want to make sure superintendents have the resources to be part of the conversation.

Vance: We don鈥檛 lobby. We鈥檙e providing specific expert information. Noelle or Sasha Pudelski (91制片鈥檚 advocacy director) will bring one or more of us in to provide legal expertise and analysis. Our focus is along the lines of 鈥淗ere鈥檚 factually what this is (about) and the impact it is likely to have.鈥�

We also have a defensive, rapid-response side to our work. Shortly after we started at 91制片, we had all of these congressional developments that we didn鈥檛 really anticipate. We worked with the advocacy and governance team to provide expertise on the existing law, explained how this would change that law and discussed what impacts may occur on the ground.

Kalpos: Everything is moving rapidly. Things are very interconnected. Already this year there鈥檚 been a lot of movement from the White House that we don鈥檛 usually see.

We are starting to look at all the cybersecurity breaches in schools 鈥� How to be better prepared when these really horrific things happen.

What do your roles within the center entail?

Kalpos: We鈥檙e small and scrappy. I think all of us are kind of touching everything. I鈥檝e been working more on the administration and grants side.

Vance: I鈥檓 often not only the public face of the center, but also provide background information and a broader perspective. I was invited to speak at the Education Writers Association conference in June to talk about some of the issues.

Leftwich: It鈥檚 a lot of research, watching news, pulling together information and consolidating it down into an understandable and fun-to-read format 鈥� or not always fun, but making it into short, digestible pieces.

What do you think is unique about this project and 91制片鈥檚 approach to student privacy?

Vance: Part of it is certainly our look beyond just education and our understanding of privacy more broadly. We鈥檙e not just looking at what鈥檚 happening in education communities. We鈥檙e also examining what could or is likely to impact schools.

I鈥檓 really excited about the fact that 91制片 is leaning into privacy and on other tech issues such as the emergence of artificial intelligence.

Kalpos: 91制片鈥檚 advocacy department has amazing relationships with other stakeholders in the field. Those relationships are invaluable so thinking about these issues ends up having better outcomes.

What do you like best about the work you鈥檙e doing with 91制片?

Leftwich: I love that we get to look out for children and protect their interests that they may not understand and that we can protect their privacy.

Kalpos: How fast-moving this work is. It never gets stale because there鈥檚 always a relevant policy issue. It鈥檚 great to be on the forefront of an initiative.

Vance: The work we鈥檙e doing really makes a difference. These are new areas for policymakers so expertise is rare here. There is perhaps a much greater opportunity to fix things on the front end.

Inside 91制片 is an occasional column about principal employees and priorities of the association.