|
|
Document
|
|
I97-049M
|
|
|
|
|
|
Institution/HIC
|
|
INVESTIGATION REPORT INVESTIGATION I97-049M A MUNICIPAL BOARD OF EDUCATION August 21, 1997
|
|
|
|
|
|
Summary
|
|
INTRODUCTION Background of the Complaint On July 30, 1997, a newspaper reporter contacted the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (the IPC), to report that a number of confidential school records had blown out of a dumpster located beside a named elementary school. These records were said to be strewn about the residential area around the school. The reporter had also alerted officials of the school board (the Board) of this matter, as well as a number of parents whose children's information was contained in some of the records found. Soon after being notified, the principal of the school retrieved the remaining records out of the dumpster. In addition, the principal, accompanied by the school's vice-principal and chief custodian, and one parent contacted by the media, looked around the vicinity of the dumpster for any other records that may have blown away. Upon first learning of this incident on July 30th, telephone contact was immediately made with the school's vice-principal and the Board's Information and Privacy Co-ordinator (the Co-ordinator) that afternoon, followed by investigators from the IPC meeting with officials from the Board the next day. Our goal was to determine whether the Board's practices were in compliance with the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act ). The local newspaper also published an article on July 31st stating that "hundreds of pages" from the dumpster had blown onto the property of the person living next door to the school. The reporter then described the types of records found and the information contained in them. In addition to the student records, it was reported that the Visa receipts of a deceased school employee, the school's former vice-principal, had also been found "blowing around." The reporter further stated that the person who had found these records had turned them over to another individual who had been a close friend of the former vice-principal since it was believed that this individual would know whom to contact at the school about this matter. At the end of the article, the school principal, the Information and Privacy Commissioner and Board officials asked anyone possessing any of these records to contact the Board at a particular telephone number. On August 7, 1997, the individual who had been a close friend of the late vice-principal returned the records to the Board, and on August 19th, the records in the newspaper's possession were also returned to the Board. Issues Arising from the Investigation The following issues were identified as arising from the investigation: (A) Was the information in question "personal information," as defined in section 2(1) of the Act ? If yes, (B) Was the personal information disclosed in compliance with section 32 of the Act ? (C) Did the Board dispose of the personal information in a secure manner? RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION Issue A: Was the information in question "personal information" as defined in section 2(1) of the Act ? Section 2(1) of the Act defines "personal information" as recorded information about an identifiable individual, including, (a) information relating to the race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation or marital or family status of the individual, (b) information relating to the education or the medical, psychiatric, psychological, criminal or employment history of the individual or information relating to financial transactions in which the individual has been involved, (c) any identifying number, symbol or other particular assigned to the individual, (d) the address, telephone number, fingerprints or blood type of the individual, (e) the personal opinions or views of the individual except if they relate to another individual, (f) correspondence sent to an institution by the individual that is implicitly or explicitly of a private or confidential nature, and replies to that correspondence that would reveal the contents of the original correspondence, (g) the views or opinions of another individual about the individual, and (h) the individual's name if it appears with other personal information relating to the individual or where the disclosure of the name would reveal other personal information about the individual. We reviewed a sample of the documents retrieved from the dumpster. Some of these documents were general records such as minutes of committee meetings, agendas of principals' meetings, and educational literature. These documents did not contain any personal information, as defined in section 2(1) of the Act . However, many of the documents we examined contained detailed student information. Some of these documents included: -- Assessment Forms, Evaluation Records, Daily Advisor Information Forms, Student Behaviour Records (Lunchroom), and Lunchtime Registration Forms; -- classroom lists, a list of students for "Gifted Test Questioning," and a list of students indicating whether they had been promoted or retained; -- Vice-Principal's telephone messages and personal notes; -- Parent-Teacher Interview Forms, consent forms for the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test, and Ministry of Education Application Form for Special Students; -- various pieces of correspondence containing the names of students together with other information about the student (e.g., the fact that they had been referred for assessment, whether they had met certain expectations, etc.). Diagnostic and Resource Team Referral Form Some of the documents we examined contained sensitive student information. One such document was the "Diagnostic and Resource Team (DART) Referral Form," of which we found numerous copies. This form included the student's name, sex, date of birth, grade, name of parent/guardian, address, telephone number, room number, name of the teacher, Brigance test grade levels, and number of schools attended. It also contained a number of categories of information, some of which we have outlined below, along with examples of the types of remarks that were noted in them:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Legislation
|
|
-
MFIPPA
-
2(1) personal information
-
30(4)
-
Section 32
|
|
|
|
|
|
Subject Index
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Published
|
|
Aug 21, 1997
|
|
|
|
|
|
Type
|
|
Privacy Complaint Report
|
|
|
|
|
|
<<
Back
|
|
|