- A Guide to Privacy and Access to Information in Ontario Schools
- Introduction
- Ontario’s Access and Privacy Legislation
- Collecting personal information
- Using and disclosing personal information
- Consent to collect, use and disclose personal information
- Safeguarding and retaining information
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Access to information
- How do students and parents access personal information?
- Do individuals have a right to access general records from a school board?
- Do students need to reach a certain age before they can exercise their access rights?
- How does a child’s age affect the parent’s right of access to personal information?
- Do non-custodial parents have a right to access a child’s school records?
- Correction of Personal Information
- Special Topics
- Back to Information for Individuals
What is personal information?
Personal information held by school boards is subject to MFIPPA’s access and privacy provisions. MFIPPA defines personal information as recorded information about an identifiable individual.3 It includes information such as name, address, and phone number. Other examples include:
- school photos and videos
- health information
- student records
| A record may contain personal information even if it does not include a name. For example, if a teacher posts students’ grades or test scores in a way that the identity of the students could be determined, even without their names, this could be a disclosure of personal information. |
Personal information can be recorded in any format. In a school board setting, this may include:
- paper records, such as report cards, class lists, or printed special education records, including individual education plans, safety plans, or behaviour plans
- electronic records, such as electronic student attendance records
- photographs, including yearbook images
- video footage, including from surveillance cameras located in schools, or from video collected for professional development