July 26, 2001; School District 625 (St. Paul)
7/26/2001 10:15:43 AM
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to section 13.072 of Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13 - the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. It is based on the facts and information available to the Commissioner as described below.
Facts and Procedural HistoryFor purposes of simplification, the information presented by the person who requested this opinion and the response from the government entity with which the person disagrees are presented in summary form. Copies of the complete submissions are on file at the offices of IPA and, except for any data classified as not public, are available for public access. On May 30, 2001, IPA received a letter from X's parent. In his/her letter, X's parent requested that the Commissioner issue an opinion regarding whether School District 625, St. Paul, inappropriately released data about X. X is a student in the District. IPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Patricia Harvey, Superintendent of the District, in response to X's parent's request. The purposes of this letter, dated June 4, 2001, were to inform her of the request and to ask her to provide information or support for the District's position. On June 21, 2001, IPA received a response, dated same, from Nancy Cameron, Assistant General Counsel for the District. A summary of the facts as presented by X's parent is as follows. X's parent wrote: On [a specific date, X's teacher] announced to [his/her] classroom that a list of students would not be accompanying [a specific grade] on a scheduled field trip for disciplinary reasons. Those students, who [X's teacher] named, would instead be assigned to a classroom in another grade. All the students in the room heard this announcement, and the named students were more than a little embarrassed. [X] was among those students named. Issue:In his/her request for an opinion, X's parent asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:
Discussion:Data maintained by a public educational agency or institution that relate to a student are classified at Minnesota Statutes, section 13.32, educational data. Subject to limited exceptions, which apparently do not apply in this situation, educational data are private data on individuals and are not accessible to the public. Data on individuals are defined in section 13.02, subdivision 5, as data in which any individual is or can be identified as the subject of those data. In her comments to the Commissioner, Ms. Cameron wrote: [X's teacher] informed [his/her] classroom, Those not going [on the field trip] will go to [another grade] rooms. [X's teacher] used the word those and does not believe [s/he] used the students' names. Because [his/her] statement did not identify any individual, including Student X, as the data subject...[his/her] statement does not constitute data on individuals. ... [X's teacher] denies saying that [the students] would not be going for disciplinary reasons. They might not have been going for any number of reasons - e.g., lack of parental permission, no interest, religious beliefs, or possibly discipline. In this case, there is a factual dispute that the Commissioner cannot resolve. X's parent alleges that X's teacher released information revealing that X could not attend the field trip because of disciplinary reasons. Ms. Cameron, on behalf of the District, disputes that assertion and states that X's teacher revealed only that those students not going on the field trip would be going to rooms in another grade. The Commissioner has the following comment. If X's teacher named X and explained why X would not be attending the field trip, i.e, because X was being disciplined, such a dissemination was inappropriate. Pursuant to section 13.32, because the data about why X did not attend the field trip are data that relate to a student, they are educational data. Pursuant to section 13.32, section 3, those data are private. One final note is in order. Ms. Cameron, in her response to the Commissioner, included some private data about X that the Commissioner did not need to render his opinion. The Commissioner encourages the District and all other responding government entities to limit their comments to only that information which is relevant and necessary to the opinion issue. Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue that X's parents raised is as follows:
Signed:
David F. Fisher
Dated: July 26, 2001 |
Educational data
Entity comments
