<p>That’s a BS question, emeraldkity4. No, every parent in Louisiana has not been asked to consent to creation of a statewide educational database that would not be effective for its purposes if it were not complete. “Everyone” in this case refers to the people designing and implementing the program, including of course responsible state officials.</p>
<p>Parents aren’t asked for permission when teachers or administrators in their children’s schools view the children’s records, or when copies are sent to a child’s new school. The problem is that the existing records are often incomplete, wrong, and months late when they have to be transferred. There is a big push now for electronic medical records, and for similar reasons – accuracy, cost, effectiveness, timeliness. There are privacy concerns with that, too, I expect, but the potential gains in terms of lives saved and mistakes avoided are obvious. </p>
<p>It’s a little bizarre to suggest that parents should be asked for their consent whenever Teacher A asks Teacher B what kind of a student a particular child is, and what he can do, if Teacher A is now teaching the child, and Teacher B taught him or her last year. Or when a principal says, “Let’s look at how Teacher A is doing with that student, and see if there isn’t something that we could do better.” That’s the essence of this database.</p>