Cloud Computing, Regulatory Compliance, and Student Privacy: A Guide for School Administrators and Legal Counsel

This Article claims to assist stakeholders in building a better partnership by:

• Explaining the concept of cloud computing and how it is being used in schools;

• Highlighting the regulatory issues raised by new technologies (with a focus on data protection and data privacy issues);

• Offering guidance to school districts who wish to create policies that include mechanisms for legal review prior to deployment of such technologies;

• Providing insight to counsel who are faced with these issues, including a review of applicable law (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act in particular) and guidance for negotiating cloud services agreements; and

• Highlighting several emerging developments in both the regulatory and legislative landscape that school decision makers will need to watch for as they chart a course forward.