Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 3522

 

BP 3522-DISTRICT DATA PROTECTION PROGRAM (2022)

AR 3522-DISTRICT DATA PROTECTION PROGRAM (2022)

The Data Protection Board Policy (BP) and Administrative Regulation (AR) were created through a joint effort between AASB (Association of Alaska School Boards) and the Alaska Schools Data Protection Working Group.

AASB put together a task force that included the AASB Executive Director, various Superintendents, ALASBO (Alaska Association of School Business Officials), and various school business officials to revise all BP/ARs in Article 3 Business and Noninstructional Operations. This group then realized the need to create a new model policy that addressed Data Protection. The AASB task force developed a draft model BP and AR that primarily originated from the Mat-Su Borough School District (MSBSD) Information Security Program’s BP & AR due to their successful data protection implementations and refinements.

At the same time, Alaska School Technology Directors recognized the hole in school operations and policies and began a working group to address the issue. The Alaska Schools Data Protection Working Group was then created to incorporate the knowledge and needs of large-small, rural-urban school Districts across the State by continuing to build on the foundation of the successful Information Security Program at MSBSD and make a final product accessible to all districts regardless of size, staffing, budget or location.

The working group (see contacts below) is ongoing and comprised of:

  1. Four Alaskan technology administrators representing large/small, remote/urban School districts
    • 2 Technology Directors
    • A cyber-security officer of one of Alaska’s largest Districts
    • A MSBSD Technology Program manager who helped create, refine, and is still currently using the original BP/AR
  2. A cybersecurity expert with 30 years of experience at the State and Federal Government levels
  3. An ALASBO Director with 30 years of experience in the State

The working group reached out to AASB to see if any work on Data Protection had ever been done. At this point, AASB and the working group joined forces.

The working group used the drafts that AASB had created from MSBSD and combed through them to improve and refine them more. The working group then took the drafts to Alaska School District Technology Directors and asked for input.  Written and verbal feedback was received from everyone from Anchorage School District to our small and more remote districts.

Final drafts of the BP/AR were then passed back to AASB for the last review.

In the meantime, the working group recognized the need to support Districts while they work to implement a Data Protection Plan. Therefore, the working group drafted supporting documents to be used internally, which could partner with the model public-facing BP/AR. These documents are for Districts looking for assistance in implementing the BP/AR before adoption. See below (last updated 5/2022):

  1. Alaska K-12 Security Training
  2. Alaska District Security Policy
  3. Alaska Simplified Employee Policies and Procedures
  4. Alaska eBook on How to Implement Basic Security Controls
  5. Risk Assessment Template

AASB released the model BP-3522 and AR-3522 in May 2022 as a courtesy to all Alaskan school districts.  The collaboration between AASB, the working group, and the Alaska Technology Directors made these working model documents possible to protect the data of Alaskan students and educators.

Alaska Schools Data Protection Working Group

The Alaska Schools Data Protection Working Group.is a standing committee committed to refreshing data protection content in an ever-changing cyber security environment.

Contact information is provided should a District have questions, concerns, or need support:

Amy Eakin, Alaska Schools Data Protection Working Group Facilitator, Northwest Arctic Borough School District, Director of Technology, aeakin@nwartic.org; 907-442-1830

Peter Clay, Director Solutionz Security, pclay@solutionzsecurity.com 703-220-3531,

Melody Douglas, ALASBO, Associate Executive Director, melody.douglas@alasbo.org; 907-398-6819

Matthew Gore, Southeast Island School District, Technology Director, mtgore@sisd.org; 907-305-1153

Justin Michaud, MSBSD, Senior Program Manager, IT (Information Technology), Justin.Michaud@matsuk12.us; 907-761-4014

Travis Veazey, Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, Information Security Officer, travis.veazey@k12northstar.org; 907-328-0622