Beginning July 1, 2021, use this sample letter to comply with the Student Online Personal Protection Act’s requirement that a school district must notify the parent/guardian when the covered information of his/her child has been breached. 105 ILCS 85/27(d), added by P.A. 101-516, eff. 7-1-21.

On District Letterhead

Re:  Student Data Breach Notification

Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s):

Despite the District’s ongoing efforts to ensure high levels of security and privacy in the use of online student data, we regret to inform you that certain data about your child [was] OR [may have been] compromised in a recent breach of [insert name of online site, service, or application and name of operator] OR [the District’s network]. The breach [is estimated to have] occurred on [insert date or date range].  The following information about your child was compromised:

This directory information is within the legal right of the school district to maintain within our student information system.  No grades, test information, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers or other financial information was compromised.  Please know that we take the data surrounding students seriously.  

[Insert description of student’s covered information that was compromised or reasonably believed to have been compromised]

The District [, in cooperation with the operator,] is actively investigating the causes and extent of the breach, and we will keep you apprised of any relevant updates. If you have questions or concerns in the meantime, you may contact me [or directly contact the operator involved]:

[Insert Superintendent contact information]

[Insert operator contact information, if applicable]

You may also obtain information from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and consumer reporting agencies about fraud alerts and security freezes at:

FTC

consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0279-extended-fraud-...

877-FTC-HELP (382-4537)

Federal Trade Commission

600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20680

Equifax Information Services LLC (fraud alert)

P.O. Box 105069 

Atlanta, GA 30348-5069

Equifax Information Services LLC (security freeze)

P.O. Box 105788

Atlanta, GA 30348-5069

Experian
experian.com/help/888-EXPERIAN (888-397-3742)

Transunion
transunion.com/credit-help 

888-909-8872

Transunion Fraud Victim Assistance (fraud alert)

P.O. Box 2000

Chester, PA 19016

Transunion (security freeze)

P.O. Box 160

Woodlyn, PA 19094

Sincerely,

Superintendent