Is this GDPR breach

[Harass3d]

A complaint has been lodged with my employer about a comment I made on social media (not upheld!). This complaint has come from the head teacher at my son's school and he has identified himself as such (fine) but then goes on to identify me as a parent (which has no relevance to his complaint) am I right in thinking this is a breach of GDPR? It is no business of my employers where my son goes to school.

So they phone the number, someone answers with the name of the workplace. If OP works for the NHS she may not be allowed to have a mobile on her so would have given a landline.

I work in this field. Absolutely no-one can say op hasn’t fallen foul of libel or malicious communications without having the full story. Having seen how some people speak about schools and school staff online - I see people fall foul of both quite often. They just don’t realise it.

I deal with this situation a lot at work. Private or public profile doesn't make any difference. If you an identifiable member of your workplace (even if stated on a seperate social media profile, such as LinkedIn) and if there is evidence that a person has brought their employer's name into disrepute, they can take action.

No idea what was said in your circumstance OP, but regardless I'd take more care in future. Clear someone has complained about you and could do so again.

It is no business of my employers where my son goes to school.

Depends on what your employers social media policy is. Many now have codes of conduct where you can't say certain things even if private because they may be deemed as bringing the employer into disrepute. Certainly NHS and other public sector staff are particularly strict about this.

I have to say, how did a private post come to the attention of a head teacher. Tbh I'd be more concerned about that, rather than seeking to make a complaint about a GDPR breech which now looks exceptionally vindictive. If you do pursue that course of action why do you think that's in your child's best interests? You force a situation where you are either trying to actively force the head out and/or put your own child in a middle of a huge row between you and staff. The breakdown in communication really makes it almost impossible for your child to continue in that school without it being a problem. This is a scenario that could still be avoided.

As I say, I'd be examining whether my post really was set to private or not (it suggests your level of privacy isn't right) or looking at my friends list. Is it really private if you have hundreds of acquaintances familiar with the school (because they are other parents or local and know where your child goes to school even if you don't name the school).

The fact is that the head will be easily identifiable in your online community to anyone who knows you. You don't have to name the school for it to be obvious who you mean.

If you had a problem with the head, it would be wise to actually deal with the issue rather than ranting about it on Facebook.

You've been caught out here, because you think you have the right to potentially liable someone - which would definitely fall under disrepute policies if your employer has one.

I can't say I think the head's approach is necessarily right or fair here.

I do think you are totally going about resolving this in a poor manner that will ultimately backfire on your child though and you don't seem to wish to be responsible for what you post on social media.

Realistically nothing on social media is private, despite privacy settings especially if you have a large number of followers. Youve potentially publicly said this to a couple of hundred people familiar with the head and well aware of which school it is. You may wish to reflect on this and your own behaviour.

FFS GDPR breech? That should be the least of your concerns at this point.

Doesn’t matter. You still published the comment for hundreds of others to read.

You think it's more likely that the headteacher phoned the number on the school record which may or may not have been a work landline number and then asked the person answering exactly who they were talking to, made a note of it and then wrote to that employer rather than simply getting the info from the person who sent them the screenshot or finding it on the internet?

If you haven't slept for a week over this, then you are absolutely crazy to take it further. This head has singled you out and has made it clear that he is going to fight you. Either he has had enough, or you have in fact been bad mouthing him in other places or he has a disturbed personality such as narcissism or psychopathy. You have made a powerful enemy given your child is at his school and you can't move schools. There is also another person somewhere who has perhaps passed on your sm post via a screenshot, so it would appear that other people may also be happy for you to be attacked. I would take time out to process everything before pursuing something against him and really think through carefully what is the best way to deal with this. Let his attack on you slide off you for now - it didn't go anywhere so he failed. If you pursue this and he does turn out to be a disturbed personality then you could be having sleepless nights for a lot longer than a week. You need to act with care, not have a knee jerk reaction. He may be goading you into reacting so don't give him the pleasure.

You miss the point spectacularly there. Well done.

It's a shame that instead of asking to speak to you about your concerns, he chooses to complain.

@Harass3d

He assumed that as I work in health care I am not entitled to an opinion

You said you work in healthcare in a small community- unless you're literally a cleaner you have access to confidential information.
Think twice about what you put on facebook in future, your words carry weight.

You are but you have to be very careful what you say about the school and individuals and where you say it.

That said, unless there is some background to this that you have not shared, or much more was said than you have indicated the whole thing sounds ludicrous.

The pair of you need to get on with your lives and stop using social media as a weapon.

It's a shame the op didn't do that in the first place really! This whole situation could be avoided if both adults behaved properly and communicated properly.

You keep going on about it not being a public group as if that gets you off the hook- it doesn't.

You posted a weird comment here about his thinking you're not entitled to have an opinion because you're in health care. You've sneered about other mothers on here. Comments on social media by employees can be of concern to employers even if not directly related to them. Maybe you should be more careful what you post.

That's a completely unfounded assumption on your part.

Genuine question. (And off topic about the GPDR which I agree sounds very odd)
Why do you send your child to a school you quite clearly despise and a headteacher who makes you uncomfortable enough to comment about them on social media? I will never ever understand why a parent would send their child to a school they don’t trust. Just move them 🤷‍♀️. Parents who don’t just leave… I think they like the attention and drama. Go and look at some other schools OP-everyone will be a lot happier!

Absolutely this.

These posts from parents ranting on social media forget that there is a human being behind the complaints, who may be wrestling with all sorts of things.

If you have issues with the school and the head, deal with things appropriately!

OP, you have a child at school. For their sake, please clue yourself up about Internet safety. The moment you post something, it isn't private. Even those WhatsApp messages you send to your friends can come back to haunt you.

@BlueSilverCats have you lived and worked in small communities? It's absolutely not an unfounded assumption!!!!
The rule is that everyone knows everything.

Minnowmeow there is still a GDPR issue if the teacher has collected a public record data and attached it to the sons data file in the school.

Once attached and processed it fall within the scope of their policy.

Otherwise the school would have to argue that there were 2 independent silos of data about the OP. However the link remains the sons original data set of having a parent was the basis of the employer letter.

As a teacher, who has dealt with the ICO, I really don't think they will be interested in this at all - I had an incident of a local councillor falsely accusing me and a colleague of verbal assault which he sent to over 100 local residents via email from council records - the ICO were not interested!

However, a single solicitors letter to the council got him suspended and he subsequently resigned.

In your case, I would do the same, get a solicitor to draft a complaint against the head, sent to the board of governors and cc'd to Ofsted. That will doubtless be much better than the ICO.

You do need to be very sure of your ground first, ie that nothing you said in your social media post could be classed as libel, or you could trigger a chain reaction where you come off worse - this is where the solicitor is helpful as they can advise, cost me £150 for the advice and letter, money well spent!

@AnSolas this wouldn't necessarily be a GDPR breach. The parent or person who brought the screenshot to the attention of the HT could have identified the OP, her workplace ( perhaps she's a disgruntled patient??) and the child. This could then have been put in a linked pastoral note attached to the screenshot as it pertains to both sides.
The HT could be following policy and police advice here.

OP did not name the school or the head teacher. She did not refer to her own job, nor did she say 'in my profession opinion'. She has never worked with the school.

As for the school being small enough, it's a secondary school, not a small village primary school so it's doubtful that the head teacher knows all the parents personally.

It sounds like that's what it might've descended into. My DP is a teacher and I know he'd be really upset to be slagged off on SM by so many parents. It's interesting that the head has seized upon OP's comments out of all the others though. It really does suggest there's more to it, that either they have a history of antagonism and she's posted about him before, or she works with children in her healthcare role and he feels she's breached her professional standards.

I filled in forms confirming my occupation and place of work when my DC started each of their schools. In any event, it wouldn’t matter if the place of work wasn’t recorded. If they have used the work telephone number for a purpose other than what it was collected it’s a breach.

So the school have 2 data items about the OP ( a post which is attributed to the OP and a record of her employer ) on file sent in by that person.
And can answer the where when and why they hold the data.

The letter to the third party, the OP's employer, is the school taking the data on file and using it.