Class action suit against the school.
In today's mail, both the teens got letters from a lawyer group about a class action lawsuit.
I hadn't heard or read anything about it, usually you see ads for class actions on tv, in commercials, I'm constantly seeing class actions for mesothelioma and all kinds of other stuff like Heparin and stuff, but this is a class action suit against the Sarasota County school district and the Princeton Review.
Last year ALL of the students of ALL of the county's high schools had to go onto the Princeton Review website and enter in all of their personal information in order to take practice SATs and other tests.
What kind of personal information?
ALL of it.
Name, address, date of birth, phone number and social security number.
If a student didn't have their SS# on hand, the school filled it in for them.
Well a girl who graduated this year with Mark, went to the Princeton Review website and found all of her information posted publicly.
And then she found every single other student's information posted as well.
Thousands of teenagers SS#'s were posted to the website along with all of the information needed to commit identity theft if someone was going to do that.
The girl and her family hired a lawyer who has now started a class action suit.
If your kids got a letter in the mail, it means that their information was publicly posted to the website, they are automatically part of the class.
Both my sons got letters.
ALL of their information was posted, anyone could have taken it and tried to commit identity theft with it, along with thousands of other students in this county.
This is so unbelievable to me.
I have protected the teens SS#s like a rabid guard dog because my ex-mother in law stole my information and destroyed my credit, I didn't want it to happen to the teens, but thanks to the county school board and the Princeton Review, it may have happened anyway.
I'm still reading through the 5 page letter, all about the class suit, what will happen if it goes forward, if they win, if they lose, settle, whatever.
I'm just so flabbergasted about it.
No one knows exactly how long all of that information was posted publicly, but it was all there for anyone to look at and take any information that they wanted to take and thousands of teenagers credit could be completely ruined.
Comments
that is just horrible to contemplate! Do you know who is 'responsible' for this? (specific SD or Princeton) While my daughter(s) didn't get a letter (fingers crossed) yet, that site gets information from (gasp!) all over the country! I can't imagine the 'steps' required to safeguard those have been affected... but I can imagine the headaches.... PLEASE keep us posted!
Posted by: Tawnda | September 4, 2009 9:56 AM
It is not just the high school students...it is for every single student that attended any sarasota county school. We got a letter for both Jeff and Katie. The thing that really bothers me is that any damage that could possibly be done has already happened! Chris and I are looking into the kids credit as we speak. This was over a year ago and it is just now getting the attention!
Posted by: Mindy | September 4, 2009 3:39 PM
Schools don't need the information for a practice test. Why ask for it?
Yes, they should be held liable for damage caused by their irresponsibility !
Posted by: mac | September 5, 2009 6:47 PM
There are more and more issues of employees screwing up and personal information accidentally out there. Rather than suing, I'd ask for them to pay for a credit protection service - it might help put your mind at ease in the meantime.
Posted by: The Constant Complainer | September 8, 2009 11:32 PM