Lower Merion, Radnor students could be part of over $17 million class action suit

LOWER MERION – Lower Merion and Radnor school districts recently notified families that letters they may have received regarding a class-action settlement are genuine and concern a lawsuit involving PowerSchool.

“Over Easter weekend, some LMSD families received an email with the subject line ‘Legal Notice of Class Action Settlement’ from Kroll Settlement Administration LLC. While LMSD was not notified that this communication would be sent, it does appear to be legitimate,” according to the notice sent out by Lower Merion School District officials.

Radnor School District officials informed residents in a similar letter.

“Parents and guardians of Radnor Township School District (RTSD) students may have received an email from Kroll Settlement Administration LLC with the subject: Legal Notice of Class Action Settlement,” according to Radnor’s notice. “That email is a legitimate legal notice about a class action settlement involving PowerSchool and the Naviance platform. RTSD used Naviance with middle and high school students to help them plan their post-graduation pursuits until the 2024-2025 school year.”

In their statements, both school districts said they used the Naviance system for postsecondary planning. Radnor discontinued using it after the 2024-2025 school year, and Lower Merion officials said in March they proposed moving from Naviance to SCOIR, a different post-secondary planning platform.

The notices resulted from a $17.25 million class action settlement recently reached regarding allegations that Naviance (by PowerSchool) inappropriately tracked student data from August 18, 2021, to January 23, 2024. Any student who logged into Naviance during that time is eligible to join the class.

“The emails are legal notices that recipients may be part of a class of students impacted by a lawsuit that was filed against Naviance in August 2023,” Lower Merion school officials wrote. “According to the complaint, PowerSchool and the Chicago Public Schools violated students’ privacy by using online tools to harvest a wide array of data.

“While PowerSchool denies any wrongdoing and maintains they “strictly and proactively” follow student data privacy requirements at the federal and state levels, they have stated that they entered the settlement agreement “to avoid the uncertainty, distraction, and expense” of ongoing litigation.”

For more details on Radnor, visit www.rtsd.org/people/departments/technology/naviance. Information from Lower Merion is available at www.lmsd.org/about-lmsd/newsroom/article/~board/district-information/post/information-about-emails-regarding-class-action-settlement-and-naviance. For general settlement details, visit www.powerschoolnaviancesettlement.com/.