North Allegheny’s solicitor is reviewing an agreement for a technology and engineering course used by the district to determine whether the program’s outside operator is seeking too much personal data about students.
NA School Board Director Marcie Crow said Project Lead The Way, offered by the Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology is requesting full names, student identification numbers, grade, gender, date of birth, race, ethnicity of students in the program. And it also requests individual education plan status and any needs for accommodations, the disclosure of which may violate NA policy, Crow said.
“That raises a lot of concerns with me because this is an outside party, and I do not think that our students’ information should go to an outside party,” Crow said.
One student says the benefits are too important to end the partnership offered by Project Lead The Way, and he is worried that NA will cancel the program.
“The Project Lead The Way program has been instrumental in our career and skills development. The courses provide a nationally recognized curriculum and resources with hands-on projects and the development of problem-solving skills,” said Jackson Rodgers, a senior at North Allegheny Senior High School, who takes the honors elective.
Project Lead The Way is a comprehensive educational program offered in the Tech and Engineering Education Department.
The district first started offering the courses in the 2020-2021 school year and the agreement was up for review Feb. 15. It is automatically renewed each year, unless canceled by either party.
The PLTW would provide the district $3,200 to pay for the high school’s engineering pathway fee for the 2023-24 school year. NA would pay a $950 fee for each middle school building.
Crow added the PLTW can keep the data for up to six years, after which it will be destroyed. But if the company sells this data, it goes to the buyer. She also said some language is “very vague” regarding who can access the information and for what reasons.
PLTW asks the district to inform parents of these terms, she said. There are instances where a student can opt out, she said.
Rodgers plans on attending Penn State for engineering and said the “courses are unlike any other math or science course in the district and shares aspects with the hands-on Engineering 100 course required for PSU freshman engineers.”
PLTW can be used for college credits. The courses include Design and Modeling for sixth grade and flight and space for seventh grade, according to Dr. Joseph Sciullo, NA’s assistant director of secondary education.
High school honors-level courses include: Intro to Engineering Design, Digital Electronics, Principles of Engineering, Computer Integrated Manufacturing, and Civil Engineering and Architecture.
Rodgers said he spoke with fellow North Allegheny students who use PLTW, and they had concerns similar to his. He fears the school board will terminate the agreement.
“While I do not doubt that North Allegheny could develop a replacement, the participation and enthusiasm about the course could never be the same. The college credits, honors weighting, and scholarship opportunities provided to all of us by the course makes it irreplaceable,” Rodgers said.
The honors status gathers like-minded students with true interest in pursuing careers as engineers, Rodgers said.
“The leadership and communication skills we have developed working together on long-term projects gives students a glimpse of what it is like to work in careers that interest us,” he said.
Natalie Beneviat is a Trib Total Media contributing writer.
