OXFORD — Oxford Hills School District Technology Director Michael Dunn said Wednesday that a recent breach in the state’s program to collect student Social Security numbers should not be of great concern. Parents do, however, have the ability to withhold their students’ numbers from the statewide system.

“I’m not too concerned,” Dunn said of the breach that allowed a technology director in a Maine school district to view restricted Social Security numbers for some staff in other districts throughout the state.

“I don’t think they lost any Social Security numbers,” Dunn said.

Acting Education Commissioner Angela Faherty said this week in a letter to school districts that the error occurred in a secondary system not connected to the collection of student Social Security numbers. But to ensure public confidence, the department shut down access to that program so no student data can be viewed or shared.

Any student information already in the program this year will also be deleted. School districts have been asked to further delay input of the information until an independent study of the breach is done.

The new law that requires schools to ask parents to submit their child’s Social Security numbers was implemented by Oxford Hills School District in September but with reservations from a number of school officials. Superintendent Rick Colpitts called the student tracking system “invasive” in that it can provide a key to other private information if there was a breach in security.

The request for Social Security numbers, which are entered into the school district and state’s Infinite Campus program, was made to link data among agencies and institutions, according to Faherty. The request for student numbers is voluntary only.

Dunn said the numbers are put into the system by the school secretary and the paper immediately shredded. Within the school, only technology department employees have access to the numbers after they have been entered into the system.

Dunn said he is not aware of any parent or student calling to request a student’s Social Security number be pulled from the system, but if there is concern, parents can call the central office and request a form to do so.

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