During a recent meeting of the Farmingdale Board of Education, President Shari Bardash-Eivers addressed a controversy that had erupted among parents in the district surrounding comments that were made online about student data mining. Initially proposed as a component of New York State’s Common Core Learning Standards, data mining is used to gather information on students through a company called InBloom. However, the proposal to allow data mining through the use of InBloom was defeated by state lawmakers.
For Eivers, the controversy had come about after she had made comments on social media sites regarding parents who were opposed to student data mining. Many referred to her comments as “insensitive,” for use of the terms “paranoid” and “ignorant” whilst noting that the same parents opposed to data mining seemed to have no qualms about activities such as using Google or their credit cards online—acts which she said carry many of the same risks.
The comments went viral amongst members of the school community, creating an uproar of angry and upset parents. At the beginning of the meeting, Eivers issued a public apology for her comments online.
“I apologize for my ill-chosen words…unfortunately, I let my emotions get in the way of my better judgment. My own opinion does not reflect the opinion of the Farmingdale School District, its administration, or the other members of the Board of Education,” Eivers said. “As President of the Board, I am fully committed to enduring that our students receive the highest level of education possible in the best possible environment.”
Despite Bardash-Eivers’ apology, several parents spoke up during the meeting’s public comments section, demanding that she resign from her post as board President. Bardash-Eivers made no further comment in regards to those demands.
