By Charly SHELTON

For any parent who is concerned about their student’s personal information being released to The Morgan Hill Concerned Parents Association, it’s time to act.

After winning a lawsuit filed against the California Dept. of Education for access to the information, the MHCPA will be given access to the master database that contains all student information on students who attended California schools any time since Jan. 1, 2008. This information includes but is not limited to social security numbers, addresses, behavior history, expulsions/suspensions, mental health and medical information.

Parents of students under the CDE, including Glendale Unified School District, who are concerned about the matter have been provided with an opt-out form from the CDE that can be filled out and submitted via postal mail as an official objection to the disclosure of student information and records. The form can be found at www.CDE.ca.gov/RE/DI/WS/documents/form2016Jan26.pdf. The form needs to be printed and mailed by post to the address in Sacramento and received in the court by April 1.

As of today, Thursday, there are 15 days left to send the forms in and have them arrive on time.

For those who would like to be excluded from the release of information, the time to send in the form is now.

“It’s a matter of conscience,” said Dr. Marc Winger, co-interim superintendent of the GUSD, in a previous interview. “If parents are worried, it’s an objection to the process and a request to maintain confidentiality. If parents feel that this is really an important issue, either to make the point or to truly protect their kids’ information, they should send it in.”

  Charly Shelton