Informed or outdated consent? An investigation into the media release policies of school districts in the United States

Abstract

School media release policies determine whether, how, and where children’s personally identifiable information (PII) is shared, but these key policies and the forms that parents are asked to sign at the start of each year have not yet been considered in light of concerns about the privacy of students and educational institutions’ use of social media. In this study, we examined the available media release forms for 120 of the largest school districts in the United States to understand how they communicate and inform their communities of their media release policies. Through the use of qualitative content analysis, we systematically coded 90 available media release forms to evaluate which types, where a child’s personally identifiable information might be shared, and whether potential risks of sharing were depicted in the consent process. 95.5% of the available media release forms we analyzed mentioned which PII schools and school districts can share if parents consent and 87.7% mention the various forms of media through which PII can be shared. However, only 13.3% mentioned specific social media platforms, though prior research has suggested that the use of social media by educational institutions is very widespread. Further, just 4.4% of the forms in our sample mentioned any specific risks that may accompany the sharing of PII, despite the articulation of clearly identified risks being an ethical recommendation for consent processes (e.g., the Belmont Report). In conclusion, there exists a significant gap between media release policies in educational institutions and the comprehensive, informed consent that parents should receive, highlighting a need for improved transparency and communication about the risks and avenues of PII sharing.