Teacher/Student confidentiality

[pudco]

What is the name of your state?NC

I recently sent out an email from the school that I teach at about a behavior incident I was having with a student. It was an account of an incident that had just happened. I made the mistake of accidentally sending it to 3 people who are not part of the school system I work for. One of the people I sent it to was a neighbor of the student involved and that person forwarded the email to the students parents. I have been told by my administration that I have breeched the General Statue and the parents may sue. The parents have money and I want to know exactly what you legal opinion is on this. Do they have a case and can I be fired from my job for this.

CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION
The employees of the school system, by nature of their position or occupation, are exposed to confidential information which should not be repeated or discussed with relatives or others outside the school system. Information concerning student performance and behavior can only be discussed with the student’s parents or guardians and school personnel directly associated with the student. Such information may be discussed with other school employees only as it benefits either the individual student involved or the objectives of the school system.

Legal Reference: G.S. 14-234 to -236; 115C-47

 

[BelizeBreeze]

yes and yes

 

[stealth2]

It may depend on how many other people witnessed the incident (i/e/ if it happened in class) and what you actually wrote in the email. Needless to say, it wasn't too bright a thing to do, dude.

And, uuhh, you may want to be careful what you post about it - it's entirely possible that the student's parents have been asking questions about this situation elsewhere.