School Facebook again!!

[nevernotstruggling]

I had a thread about this back along. School have continued to post photos of my dc without my consent. I have made 3 complaints since January.
Each time they have removed the photos but done it again.

This week they did it so I write to them stating this was an ICO breach and I requested a written response from chair of governors and the head. I stated I was considering legal action.

They removed some but not all the photos.

Secondly they sent dd1 class teacher out into the playground to grovel to me. I really like dd1 teacher he is very good with her. I told him I didn't accept he is responsible for for Facebook content and again required a written response as above. He stated that was being prepared but I haven't had it.

There are still photos present on the Facebook page.

I'm at a loss where to go with this. Legal action would be demanding compensation. I'm not taking money from my kids school.

I had a data protection breach upheld by the ICO against an estate agent who shared my number with an abusive XH. They got the estate agents to apologise and confirm they had deleted the remainder of my personal data but no further action was taken. A bit frustrating tbh.
I also have not consented to any photos of my DC being shared on any external platform. I check regularly and would be furious if the school breached this.

OP, are your children officially listed on the school's register system as "No Media/Photography"? Or is it just that you've made a separate request for no Facebook page?

If the latter, you really should have them listed as No Media students, as otherwise the school will likely continue to forget to not photograph them. With a large school, it's hard to keep track of special requests alongside the official list.

Also wanted to add op (I am a school governor) that on your school’s website site will be a data policy. They have to have a named data controller. You can contact them also.
I am one of the admins on our school’s Facebook page. I would like to think we would never have any photos of children on that we do not have permission for, as I check consent as well as the office, and we only use backs of heads or side photos where the faces aren’t visible....however if anyone requested we took a photo down it would be done within a few minutes of our being notified during the school day, certainly within 12-24 hours.
There is no excuse for the photos to still be there.

Thanks all. The school has a form they regularly send out with separate permissions for photos and using photos on social media. I don't mind if they take photos but I don't consent to social media. This preference was clearly available on the form I haven't made a request that varied from what was offered to all parents

I used to work with children whose address in the register was recorded as a po box number. they would come, they would go, we never knew where from or where to and were never told as it was a security risk that could have got them murdered. thank fuck this was before face book was ubiquitous.

Apologies if I've missed someone saying this but report do please report Facebook. Each picture. It will help whoever is posting them get the message.

As a teacher I would suggest going to Ofsted and report as a safeguarding concern. Because it is. And as the parent of a child whose privacy and identity must be protected I would be taking legal action.

If you want the photos down ASAP I would request an emergency meeting with head/ deputy head, open the site in front of them on your phone/ iPad and state that you want them removed then and there or at least them to guarantee that they will be down by the end of the day. I’d also discuss in detail- the school won’t be deliberately ignoring your wishes but something somewhere has gone wrong and you need to find out what it is. Another idea might be to change your permissions so that no photos are taken in the first place.

Oh and if the school is foolish enough to refuse to take them down (doubtful) you need to threaten legal proceedings for an injunction and damages for breach of the Data Protection Acr breach of Article 8 ECHR/ tort of confidentiality. Under the DPA there is also a right to erasure so you can ask the school to delete all existing photos if you think it’s necessary.

@Heronwatcher thank you that's extremely helpful