Fingerprint jitters--
Reprinted from AP:
Students Fingerprinted for Tests
.c The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) - Parents and legal experts have identified a problem in Michigan standardized testing - 122,000 fifth-graders provided their fingerprints without permission.
All fifth-graders in Michigan's public schools had to fill out a ''Fingerprint Investigation Journal'' as part of the science segment on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program. State law says that with few exceptions, children's fingerprints can't be obtained without parents' permission.
''It's offensive,'' said Andrea Lang of St. Clair Shores, who learned that her 10-year-old daughter provided fingerprints for the test last week. ''It's an invasion of privacy. Only criminals get their fingerprints taken.''
The fingerprint journal was merely a hands-on experiment designed to make the science portion of the test more interesting, Peter Bunton of the MEAP office, said Wednesday.
''No, we are not fingerprinting kids and sending their prints to the FBI or filing them in Lansing,'' he said. The fingerprint journals, he added, are ''thrown away, torn up, discarded, or sent home with the kids.''
''The law doesn't care if you throw it away,'' said Kerry Morgan, a Taylor attorney who was contacted by one parent. ''It just says you can't do it.''
Robert Sedler, a Wayne State University law professor, agreed fingerprints should be disclosed only voluntarily or in limited criminal circumstances.
Bunton said he was unaware of the law.
''I'm very sorry parents may have misunderstood this,'' he said. ''We will not be doing anymore fingerprinting in a classroom ever again.''
MEAP tests are being administered statewide through Feb. 13. The fingerprint exercise will continue to be used in the current tests, but the segment will not be used in future tests, state Education Department spokeswoman Deb Small said today. |
