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Report: Some Topeka Educators Have Illegal Access To Information About Student Family Income

Reports this week indicate that some educators in the Topeka school district have had illegal access to data that identifies students from low-income families. This is legally protected as confidential.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that principals and other educators were able to see the data through the district's student information platform called PowerSchool. The data is used to determine which students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.

Although Superintendent Julie Ford assured the U.S. Department of Agriculture Tuesday that the problem had been fixed.

The Capital-Journal reports that was not the case, after a person who is not legally allowed to review the data provided samples to the newspaper.

On Wednesday, the district shut down a data-exporting function in PowerSchool that was allowing the leak.

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