LOWER MERION \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver Easter weekend, some LMSD families received an email with the subject line \u2018Legal Notice of Class Action Settlement\u2019 from Kroll Settlement Administration LLC. While LMSD was not notified that this communication would be sent, it does appear to be legitimate,\u201d according to the notice sent out by Lower Merion School District officials.<\/p>\n
Radnor School District officials informed residents in a similar letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cParents and guardians of Radnor Township School District (RTSD) students may have received an email from Kroll Settlement Administration LLC with the subject: \u2018Legal Notice of Class Action Settlement,\u2019 \u201d according to Radnor\u2019s notice. \u201cThat 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
In their statements, both school districts said they used the Naviance system for postsecondary planning. Radnor discontinued using it after the 2024-25 school year, and Lower Merion officials said in March they proposed moving from Naviance to SCOIR, a different post-secondary planning platform.<\/p>\n
The notices resulted from a $17.25 million class action settlement recently reached regarding allegations that Naviance (by PowerSchool) inappropriately tracked student data from Aug. 18, 2021, to Jan. 23, 2024. Any student who logged into Naviance during that time is eligible to join the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201d Lower Merion school officials wrote. \u201cAccording to the complaint, PowerSchool and the Chicago Public Schools violated students\u2019 privacy by using online tools to harvest a wide array of data.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile PowerSchool denies any wrongdoing and maintains they \u2018strictly and proactively\u2019 follow student data privacy requirements at the federal and state levels, they have stated that they entered the settlement agreement \u2018to avoid the uncertainty, distraction, and expense\u2019 of ongoing litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more details on Radnor, visit www.rtsd.org\/people\/departments\/technology\/naviance<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n