Student newspaper takes on digital privacy in a major way

Louisville’s duPont Manual High School is the leading magnet high school in Jefferson County, enjoying the pick of the crop among all the students in Kentucky’s largest school district. And, that exclusiveness shows, as students from this school routinely turn in top performances on things like the ACT college entrance test, Kentucky’s own school assessments, and in other ways, too. It’s a fine example of how getting to chose a school can really benefit a student.

A great case in point is a major research piece in the school’s student newspaper, the Manual RedEye. In “Use of Backpack may cross digital privacy lines,” student Piper Hansen, this year’s Editor-in-Chief of the Manual RedEye, dives deeply into a troubling issue with digital learning – namely how well the privacy of that digital data is being maintained and whether federal laws are being properly observed as school systems rush to put more and more student work online. The article is extensively researched and lends support to Ms. Hansen’s concern that Jefferson County’s Digital Backpack program might indeed cross digital privacy lines. And, even students subject to the Backpack program are concerned.