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SOPPA - Student Online Privacy Protection Act

Student Online Privacy Protection Act (SOPPA): PUBLIC LIBRARY

New requirements with the Student Online Privacy Protection Act (SOPPA) take effect on July 1, 2021. These requirements place new responsibilities on school districts, vendors, and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). As a result, all digital resources that collect ANY student’s personally identifiable information (*see definition below) must be approved by the District prior to use. In order to be approved for use, a SOPPA privacy agreement must be in place between the vendor and the District. Student information cannot be shared with any digital resource that does NOT have an agreement in place.  

Therefore, in partnership, the Technology and Teaching and Learning departments are implementing a new process and system for managing digital resources going forward. The District will manage these new SOPPA requirements through a program called LearnPlatform. This program contains a product library that allows you to see if a product is approved, pending review, or denied for use with students. Additionally, you will also use the LearnPlatform to request products for use. All requests will be vetted by Teaching and Learning to ensure they align to the district’s strategic goals and by the Technology department to ensure they are SOPPA compliant. 

*Personally identifiable information - including, but not limited to, information in the student's educational record or electronic mail, first and last name, home address, telephone number, electronic mail address, or other information that allows physical or online contact, discipline records, test results, special education data, juvenile dependency records, grades, evaluations, criminal records, medical records, health records, a social security number, biometric information, disabilities, socioeconomic information, food purchases, political affiliations, religious information, text messages, documents, student identifiers, search activity, photos, voice recordings, or geolocation information.