Education Department Probes Three California Districts Over Surveys

The U.S. Department of Education opened investigations on Monday into three California school districts over classroom activities that, according to the department, require students to reveal personal information about themselves and their families. The districts are North Monterey County Unified School District, Palo Alto Unified School District and San Francisco Unified School District.

The department's Student Privacy Policy Office said the investigations will decide whether the districts broke the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment. That federal law requires schools to notify parents and obtain their written consent before surveying students on topics that reveal protected information.

According to the department, the activities sit inside required ethnic studies courses and are called "Wheel of Power/Privilege" and "Mapping My Identities". The department said students are asked to identify personal information such as their sexual orientations, gender identities, mental and physical health conditions, family economic status and race, and are then asked to work out a privilege status from the answers. Parents also alleged that the districts did not respond to requests to review the ethnic studies curriculum, or allowed parents to review only parts of it.

Frank Miller, director of the Student Privacy Policy Office, said in the October 26 statement: "Schools in California seem to be collecting a myriad of protected and private information on students without involving parents, raising serious concerns that they deliberately keep parents in the dark about the most sensitive information pertaining to their children. Students should not be pressured into identifying intimate details about themselves and their families without parental awareness and consent."

Education Secretary Linda McMahon told the California Post last week that parents have a right to opt their children out of these kinds of surveys, and that notification alone is not the test.

Why it matters

The case turns on a plain legal question. When a classroom activity asks students for protected information, does the parental notice and consent rule apply in the same way it applies to a formal survey? The department says the title of the activity does not settle that question. Districts across the country run similar ethnic studies and identity-mapping activities, so the findings will be read well beyond the three named districts.

An investigation is not a finding. The department has announced no timetable, and the districts must now show what materials were used, what students were told, and how parents could review the activities and give or refuse consent.

What happens next

The three districts will answer the federal office and produce their curriculum records. If the office finds a violation, it can require corrective steps before any loss of federal funding is considered. The outcome will also shape how other districts classify classroom reflection activities that ask for personal information.