Too much info released in letter to parents about alleged gun threat at school: Privacy commissioner

An employee of the Good Spirit School Division, which oversees 27 schools in southeast Saskatchewan, breached a student's privacy earlier this year after an alleged threat involving guns was overheard by a substitute teacher and some students, the Saskatchewan privacy commissioner says.

A letter sent out to parents a few days after the incident provided too much information that shouldn't have been disclosed, the commissioner found.

The letter said that the student made a threat and included the wording of the threat, that the RCMP had been called and that the student had parents who were "very responsible gun owners and the subject individual could not access weapons."

The letters also said the student had been suspended and that there were concerns the student may have been bullied. 

Once the letters went out and the breach was noticed, the school division proactively reported itself to the office. The parents of the student also made a complaint to the privacy commissioner.

"They contend that members of the community are treating their family negatively since the disclosure," the report reads.

Ronald Kruzeniski wrote that he was satisfied with the steps the school division took after the breach, including notifying parents of the breach and consulting privacy experts.

"Good Spirit notified the parents of the subject individual within a reasonable timeframe of the breach. Good Spirit's notification included an apology," he wrote.

The Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act applies to information such as opinion, which means it applied to the assertion that the student's parents were responsible gun owners. That statement should not have been included in the letter. It also applies to education history, which was violated when the letter mentioned the student's suspension.

Training about the act was provided on three separate occasions, but the division did not track which employees did or did not attend the sessions. The employee was later disciplined and had to familiarize themselves with the proper policies in place and then sign a declaration of compliance and understanding. 

The school division also updated policy, including the creation of an employee code of conduct handbook.