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Kentucky Mixes Up Report Cards Ohanian Note: Anybody worried about all the personal data schools acquire--and where they send it? LOUISVILLE - The state education department sent the wrong school "report cards" to the parents of more than 18,000 Kentucky students, and then spent $20,000 fixing the mix-up. The information on the report cards, which each school is required to send to parents, ranges from test scores to teacher qualifications. It cost the department $20,000 to print and mail corrected report cards, which were sent out this week and should reach parents within the next week to 10 days, said Lisa Gross, a department spokeswoman. Some parents received report cards for schools with the same name as their children's schools, but from a different Kentucky county. For example, parents at Bowen Elementary School in Jefferson County received information for a school of the same name in Powell County. The error occurred because some of the "identification numbers for the schools that had the same names got switched around," Gross said. "We're just not sure if it was a human or computer error, but we have taken steps to make sure it doesn't happen again," she said. State and federal law requires schools to send parents information about their children's schools annually. Last year, the state's 176 school districts were responsible for sending out the report cards. This year, the state took over their printing and distribution, which resulted in a savings of $127,000, even with the reprinting and mailing costs caused by the error, Gross said. The department has since instituted a system of backup checks to ensure the ID numbers and the information on each school are correct, she said. In addition to test scores and teacher qualifications, the report cards contain a variety of information on each school, including attendance rates, class and after-school programs and safety. — Associated Press |
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