Game over. Put a fork in it. Done and Done.
Pick your cliche for two well-intentioned efforts that, well, bit the dust Tuesday: Kevin Scott’s gubernatorial campaign and the state’s new program to track student success via their Social Security numbers.
In a case of the worst-possible timing, the state announced Tuesday that it was temporarily suspending its effort to collect student Social Security numbers from parents.
The problem was exactly what critics of the controversial program predicted would happen: a security breach.
A technology director for a Maine school system was able to access restricted information, including Social Security numbers, for staff members in other school districts within the state’s supposedly secure system.
No information was apparently stolen or misused, and the school employee immediately reported the problem to the Department of Education.
Still, it was a glaring hole.
Dates of birth and Social Security numbers have become the modern-day equivalent of burglar’s tools. They are used by thieves around the world to pry open bank accounts and charge cards.
It happens. Every day.
As a result, most Americans have become extremely reluctant to turn over such personal information.
So, parents and school boards across Maine were surprised when the state passed a law requiring districts to ask parents for Social Security numbers.
A number of school districts, including Lewiston, complained and responded by simultaneously seeking the information and advising parents not to provide it.
This program was well-intended and the objectives made complete sense.
As its legislative sponsor, state Sen. Peter Mills, explained last week, the bill would have enabled the Department of Education to track student success long after they leave school.
The long-term tracking is the “key to evaluation and performance,” he said.
But the whole idea of a state agency looking over your shoulder for 20 or 30 years after leaving school sounded a little spooky to a lot of people, including the Maine Civil Liberties Union.
The state and school districts can be trusted as much or more than retail stores, Mills told the Sun Journal last week, pointing out that we trust online merchants with our credit card numbers.
Yes, and some of us have lived to regret doing so, and none of us would dream of giving them our Social Security number.
Unfortunately, a bit of sloppy computer programming has now doomed this program, which faces likely repeal in the next legislative session.
Voters also got an eye-opener Wednesday when a Sun Journal investigation of candidate driving records found that Kevin Scott of Andover has been convicted of 35 motor vehicle violations and has had his driving privilege suspended 21 times.
Scott may already have been out of the race; he has been polling in the 1 percent range, far behind the leading candidates.
The winning candidate for governor will get a Maine state trooper to chauffeur him around, so our highways probably would be safer with Scott in the Blaine House than behind the wheel of a car.
But his driving record reveals an irresponsible streak and disregard for the law that disqualifies him for the state’s top job.
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