Data breach school

[Prawncaviar]

Would I be unreasonable to inform a parent that another parent has used their position as a teacher to find out privileged information about their criminal background and share it with other parents? I don’t think it is right for her to be gossiping about others behind their back.

Do you work at the school? I’d report this properly if so, don’t inform the parent.
If it’s gossip only, do nothing.

I would probably tell the Headteacher but would word it very carefully.

No I don’t work there, I’m just another parent. The teacher in question has now left the school but has a child at the school and has laughed about this person behind their back and informed others of their prison sentence. She freely admitted she found this out through information she was privy to in her role.

In what way please?

Oh gosh that’s awful. If they have left I’d inform the head as above. Screenshot the msgs if you can.

Definitely tell the school. Not sure what they can do if the staff member has left - but they should know.

Was that information already in public domain? It is not a data breach as such, more a breach of confidentiality unless the teacher has been able access records they should not be able to.

Left or was sacked I wonder? Seems very spiteful of them otherwise!

“Unfortunately” I was told verbally.

Ahh that’s frustrating

I’m not sure of the parents surname so would be unable to search to see if it is in the papers etc but when they shared the information with me they said they accessed it due to looking at information the school had to have on file because of criminal history. I’ve never worked in schools so not sure how true this is, if they would have information on criminal history of parents etc.

Secondary Head of Dept here. This kind of info is not freely available to school staff - I've only ever been told it on a need to know basis by people with safeguarding / pastoral responsibilities. This is a confidentiality breach and the school do need to know, especially if this person still has a child at the school.

Possibly if it involved safeguarding issues. If the teacher taught the child they might have known legitimately. A prison sentence is likely public knowledge anyway.

I'd just contact the headteacher telling them.what you wrote above. That one of the former teachers was gossiping and indicating they'd received information through the access they had from their role. That, if true, this would clearly be a data breach and you thought head should be aware

I would get in touch with the head and explain what you know.

Don't inform the other parent, the messenger usually gets shot

You need to tell the school, there will be limits in what they can do as they no longer work there but it does need reporting properly. Then tell the parent if you want but I imagine it'll be a case of shooting the messenger and it'll gall out in you.

Thank you. That makes sense because she did have additional responsibilities. I feel awful for the parent involved, it’s not right that people should know this.

If she had that sort of responsibility then she would have been DSL trained which makes it worse!

School would be legally required to report it as a data breach, please tell them.

Yes, this makes sense, I hope school can keep it anonymous as I wouldn’t want my child affected by what I tell school. I don’t know what they can do about it but hopefully school can limit who else is told by speaking with the parent, and notify the parent whose information has been shared.

The teacher would only know if it had been gossiped about in school or if they were part of a team around a child but yes you should inform the school.

If the person has moved to another school in the area, the Head may put in a call to their Head about this.

The reality is that the school could have been fined heavily for such a breach and feel the ramifications quite widely. She was incredibly reckless and is continuing to behave that way by spreading the information she sought out as gossip.

You absolutely need to report this, firstly to the school in question, secondly to her new employer and potentially above school level. The initial school may seek to cover it up for fear of reprisal.

As an ex-teacher, I'm genuinely stunned by her actions. It's staggeringly unprofessional.

Talk to the head in a calm and factual manner and then leave it to them to determine what happens.

This be very factual and unemotional. Unless you know for a fact that she shared it with other parents then don't mention that.

I know she shared it with two other parents. I suspect she may have shared it more widely than that but have no evidence of this so wouldn’t mention it. I suspect she would think that the other parents she told would not say anything.