# data[].attributes.body
I am currently a Graduation Coach at El Paso High School. I work with the At-Risk population on campus.  This is my 19th year in education and my 14th year working with At-Risk students and their families.  I hope to become an assistant principal in a middle school setting upon completion of my master’s degree in Educational Administration.

# data[].attributes.headline
Exploration Opt. 1                                                      Top 5 issues pertaining to Middle School according to Mark Paz, current El Paso High School principal and former Canutillo Middle School principal. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Exploration Opt. 1                                                      Top 5 issues pertaining to Middle School according to Mark Paz, current El Paso High School principal and former Canutillo Middle School principal. 

# data[].attributes.body
1.        Social media:  Relationships over social media spill into the educational setting between students and/or within a campus media account (clubs or grade level social sites).  Concerns over responses and comments becomes an overwhelming task for administrators.  Some schools opt to use REMIND which is a one-way communication system to avoid reactions.

2.       Relationships:
Any relationship can be cause of tension, however, students utilize counselors and other support staff to help facilitate. Employee relations can be difficult depending on the nature of the relationship.  Also, professionals relationships with students can become a concern if lines, such as after school hours communication, occurs often.

3.       FERPA:
Displaying student information during testing time, to celebrate birthdays or when speaking in a public setting is common.  More often than not, the information is disseminated unintentionally.  However, everyone must abide by law. This is a daily concern for administrators.

4.       Reporting child abuse:
As educators, we are required to report any suspicion of child abuse within a set time period.  However, many times, adults in a school setting are hesitant to report due to the uncertainty of the outcome;  Another reason might be that teachers do not fully comprehend the law or have not been properly trained.

5.        Personnel/ HR issues:  While administrators want to help their employees, there is a line between expectations and privileges.  Some teachers push the line to see if they can get a few extra minutes at lunch, leave early for the day, order a few extra supplies, or teachers may have a negative attitude towards specific students and/or teaching in general. The administrator must abide by policy as well as be fair and consistent with all employees.

(M. Paz, personal communication, October 23, 2018)

# data[].attributes.body
College students who have taken the ACT were identified as having a learning disability by questions they were asked to complete on their registration forms.
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/08/22/suit-targets-act-on-student-privacy.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A group of college-bound students with special needs and their parents have filed suit against ACT Inc., claiming the test-maker illegally disclosed to colleges that they have disabilities.

The class action, filed Aug. 6 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, challenges the way the Iowa-based company uses information about students with disabilities. It collects that information as part of the "profile" students fill out online as they register for the college-admission exam, as well as an information form that students complete on the day of the exam.

Introductory text in the profile tells students they can skip any question they don't want to answer but says it's intended to "help you think about your future education and to help colleges in their planning."

Instead of keeping it confidential, though, the suit says, ACT shares it with colleges by "flagging" their test-score reports, indicating that the scores were earned by someone who took the exam with accommodations.

ACT and the College Board, which sponsors the SAT, agreed years ago to stop flagging the test scores of students who take the exam with accommodations, after that practice drew widespread criticism.

But the new lawsuit says the version of the score report that ACT sends to colleges shows information about disabilities, while the version that goes to students and their high schools does not.

Influencing Admissions?

Using students' personal information that way "stigmatizes" them as they apply to college, Rahul Ravipudi, a lawyer on the students' legal team, said in a statement.

Edward Colby, a spokesman for ACT, said the company doesn't comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit also takes issue with ACT for selling students' information to colleges, scholarship programs, and other organizations for recruitment and marketing.

It says that ACT sells a searchable database to enrollment managers at colleges, billing it as a way to find the "right students for your institution" and provide the right support so students can succeed.

That information, however, can also help colleges "create markets that intentionally exclude categories of students based upon the data elements provided, including students with disabilities," the suit says.

"ACT profits off these violations and uses them to gain an edge in the marketplace over its only competitor, the College Board, which does not disclose students' disabilities to colleges and universities," the lawsuit says.

The students-from families in California, Colorado, and Nevada-claim that their work prospects could also be affected because the data report created by ACT's WorkKeys assessment, a popular career-readiness test, suggests that they took that exam with accommodations.

"Tens of thousands of employers may have access to this data at any given time," the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit describes how ACT's information-sharing practices played out for the students.

Halie Bloom, who lives in Newport Beach, Calif., graduated from high school this past spring. Because of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and a reading disability, she's had an individualized education program, or IEP, since middle school.

Bloom took the ACT several times with approved accommodations. ACT acquired the information about her disability in her test registration. The score reports it sent to the colleges she requested included a notation that she had a "learning or cognitive disability."

Bloom will attend the University of Arizona in the fall. But she believes that colleges and scholarship organizations may have declined to consider her after ACT shared her disability status with them.

"I was shocked to learn that ACT was using my disability information against me and making it more difficult for me to get into college and get the money I need to go to college," Bloom said in a statement. "I'm speaking out, because I know that someone has to stand up for all of the students who are scared about how their disabilities will be used against them."

The lawsuit seeks a court order that would bar ACT from collecting or disclosing students' disability status to third parties as of the next administration of the test, in September. It also seeks damages for violation of students' privacy and civil rights.

Published in Print: August 22, 2018, as Suit Targets ACT on Student Privacy

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
Back to Top

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A group of college-bound students with special needs and their parents have filed suit against ACT Inc., claiming the test-maker illegally disclosed to colleges that they have disabilities. The class action, filed Aug. 6 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, challenges the way the Iowa-based company uses information about students with disabilities.

# data[].attributes.body
This article discusses a young transgender student who was outed on Facebook by a fellow students parent.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/lgbt/2018/08/20/oklahoma-girl-threatened-adults-transgender-movingto-texas

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The adults demeaned Maddie - calling her "maggot" and "thing" - and joked about harming her physically. The school district canceled classes for two days and Maddie's mother, Brandy Rose, filed a protective order against one of the parents who made the threats. On Sunday, a Frontier Airlines pilot was also suspended for urging Maddie's classmates to beat her at school, the local Fox affiliate, KXII-TV, reported.

But along with the threats and abuse, Rose said she has received notes of "love and support" for Maddie from all over. One person even offered to start a GoFundMe page to raise money for the family if they chose to leave Oklahoma, which they plan to do.

Rose said on the fundraising page that she wants to move to a larger city in Texas with more resources for transgender people. Houston is a possibility, she added, because she has family there.

"We've been wanting to move there for years, but it has never been financially possible," Rose wrote on Facebook. "If this fundraiser actually works, it would be life changing for our family!"

When the fundraising page was first created, they hoped to raise $15,000. Just four days later, they'd brought in nearly $25,000 from 1,000 people.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Transgender girl demeaned, threatened by parents at Oklahoma school is moving to Texas

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The adults demeaned Maddie - calling her "maggot" and "thing" - and joked about harming her physically. The school district canceled classes for two days and Maddie's mother, Brandy Rose, filed a protective order against one of the parents who made the threats.

# data[].attributes.body
A case study is presented over a teacher who is experiencing working with a transgender student for the first time.
http://journals.sagepub.com.easydb.angelo.edu/doi/pdf/10.1177/1555458917731867

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Angelo State University - Library Online Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Unauthorized use is prohibited; Usage may be subject to security testing and monitoring; Misuse is subject to criminal prosecution; No expectation of privacy except as otherwise provided by applicable privacy laws.

# data[].attributes.body
Transgender identity is a complicated topic mainly due to the uncertainty and instability of the laws surrounding those who identify as non traditional genders. Laws and policies vary from state to state and from district to district.  In 2016, President Obama passed Title IX, which protected students who identified as transgender from being discriminated against within educational settings.  Yet, in 2017, Texas passed the "bathroom law" in which students must use the bathroom that coincides with their gender at birth (McGaughy, 2018).  The contradicting and continually changing laws can create potentially harmful situations for students since many will be outed by which bathroom door they enter.

Harassment can take many forms and can come from a variety of sources.  In Oklahoma, a student who identified as male but was born female was outed on a Facebook post by the parent of a fellow student.  This led to adults posting comments encouraging violence and bullying of the transgender student.  Not only did this place the student and their family in danger, some adults who were posting lost their jobs as a result (Schwartz, 2018).  Additionaly, transitioning from one gender to another is a private matter and can be faced with roadblocks from schools and families.  Districts, such as Ft Worth ISD will only make accommodations for transgender students with parental support and involvement (McGaughy, 2018).  Many transgender students do not have that support.
As educators, complete understanding of FERPA is necessary for the safety of all students.  Classrooms are filled with unintentional opportunities to identify students by gender and teachers must take careful aim to remain vigilant.  Birthday lists, bubble forms for testing or passes identifying girl or boys can lead to outing a student who otherwise is not ready.

It is important for teachers and administrators to become familiar and up to date with laws and policies within their state and district in order to provide a safe environment for all students.  While openness of gender identity is in its early conceptions, the acceptance is becoming more apparent and more visible at a younger age.  Culture is changing much quicker than laws.  The Trump administration is attempting to move forward with the disablement of Title IX which will cause schools to reevaluate their procedures regarding bathroom policies, yet again.

References
McGaughy, L. (2018, August 20). Transgender girl demeaned, threatened by parents at Oklahoma school is moving to Texas. Dallas News.

Schwarz, N. (2018, October 22). Trump administration could remove Title IX protections for transgender students. Education Dive.

# data[].attributes.body
Current presidential administration moves to remove protection for transgender students under Title IX.
https://www.educationdive.com/news/trump-administration-could-remove-title-ix-protections-for-transgender-stud/540256/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Dive Brief:

The Department of Health and Human Services is preparing a narrow legal definition under Title IX of gender as determined solely by someone's genitalia at birth that would eliminate the recognition of transgender students, according to a draft memo obtained by The New York Times .

The memo argued for a definition of gender based on "a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable," and stipulated a birth certificate or genetic testing would serve as proof of sex.

The draft's definition would be the largest move yet to roll back Obama-era federal protections that recognize 1.4 million Americans who identify as transgender.

Dive Insight:

College administrators have faced uncertainty over how aggressively the Trump administration would attempt to change hotly contested protections for transgender students.

Since Secretary Betsy DeVos took the helm of the Education Department, she rescinded the Obama administration's 2016 guidance that expanded investigations of gender discrimination to include allegations of transgender bias and stated institutions must allow LGBTQ students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity. The Education Department clarified after the guidance was rescinded that investigators would still look into some of transgender students' complaints that fell under Title IX protections against sex discrimination, though it would no longer hear cases about bathroom accommodations.

Some colleges have moved to be inclusive of trans students in the wake of the rollbacks. All-women's institution Spelman College, for example, said last year it would accept transgender female students.

Some colleges have not, however, raising concern among LGBTQ advocates that the new definition could open the door for widespread discrimination. Transgender students will still be able to sue colleges in discrimination cases, though the draft memo would essentially eliminate the possibility they could turn to the government for assistance, a source told Inside Higher Ed.

The new policies could be presented to the Justice Department by the end of December, after which they could be implemented in Title IX statutes, which bans discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs and covers areas such as student housing, athletics and admissions, the Times reported. LGBTQ advocates have little confidence the department would stop the definition from going forward due to Attorney General Jeff Sessions' previous stances on transgender protections.

Top image credit: White House

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Trump administration could remove Title IX protections for transgender students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Department of Health and Human Services is preparing a narrow legal definition under Title IX of gender as determined solely by someone's genitalia at birth that would eliminate the recognition of transgender students, according to a draft memo obtained by The New York Times .

# data[].attributes.body
Transgender issues are becoming increasingly common in school settings.  Going into administration with an open mind is important and necessary to serve our diverse communities and school.