ILLINOIS COMPUTERS STOLEN http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/schools/6076039-418/west-superintendent-critical-of-states-failure-to-protect-student-records.html

West superintendent critical of state’s  failure to protect student records

By Matt Brennan For The Beacon-News June 20, 2011 9:50PM

Updated: June 22, 2011 2:18AM

AURORA — West Aurora School Superintendent James Rydland was highly critical of the state this week over the recent stolen identities and records of about 10,000 students and staff from 42 northern Illinois school districts. Among those districts were West Aurora and Kaneland.

Two weeks ago, two laptop computers belonging to the Harrisburg Project, a subcontractor of the Illinois State Board of Education, were stolen from a vehicle in Palatine.

About 1,800 special education students, and several staff from the West Aurora district had their Social Security numbers and student identifications on those laptops.

“This is alarming from my perspective,” Rydland said.

The laptops were stolen from the back of a parked Ford Edge sometime between 7 p.m. June 7 and 7:30 a.m. June 8, according to Kurt Schroeder, spokesman with the Palatine Police Department. There are not yet any suspects in the case, he said.

Schroeder would not comment on any of the information that was on the two computers.

The state subcontractor should not have been traveling with this information in an unsecure format, Rydland complained this week. The state and those the state works with need to safeguard such sensitive information, he said.

“Changes need to be made here, and they need to be made quickly,” he said.

There are ways to make sure that information stays safe and secure. ISBE spokesperson Matt Vanover has said that they will be making some changes with regard to the way that the Harrisburg Project handles sensitive data.

The staff data stored on the computers included name, demographics, Social Security number, teacher certification number and work assignment. The student data included resident school district, birth date, name, student identification number, Social Security number, student’s identified disability, bilingual special education and other information.

Letters have been sent by the ISBE to the students and staff who had information on the lost computers. The letters gave contact information for three credit report agencies that victims can contact to monitor the safety of their information.

The incident is under investigation. Vanover has said that there is no reason to believe that the information has been compromised.

Rydland emphasized that it was not the West Aurora School District that had the records stolen.

“Our board did not lose two laptops,” he said. “I’m confident that our district’s data, our staff’s data are secure.”