SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS

SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS. The SLDS Governing Board is cognizant of the fact that it is necessary to transmit and process personal information in the form of Social Security Numbers (SSNs) in order to conduct the business of the board. The SLDS Governing Board takes its responsibilities with respect to the use of SSNs seriously and seeks to provide functional secure systems for the appropriate handling of this information through the use of administrative, technical, and physical safeguards. To comply with Miss. Code Ann. §25-1- 111, the following have been established: A. Individual governmental entities shall transfer the SSN to the third-party contractor for the purpose of creating a global unique identification number (GUID) that replaces the SSN and becomes the common link allowing all data in LifeTracks to be connected across different points in time. In regards to the Mississippi Department of Education, the specific method of transfer of data containing social security numbers or other unique identifiers is subject to written agreement by the SLDS Governing Board and the MDE. B. Destruction of SSN information that is no longer needed shall be handled in an approved manner and completed using accepted methods that will not enable inappropriate recovery of data. C. Individuals and entities are expected to comply with laws and policies pertaining to the collection and use of SSNs and are expected to take the steps necessary to protect this information. D. SSN information is exempt from inclusion as public record information and is never to be provided in response to such requests.