Dr. William Allan Kritsonis - Privacy Issues PPT.

1.  William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

3. Depending on circumstance

5. The purpose of this Act is to kept the public aware
of the workings of the government
 states “Every regular, special, or called meeting of a
governmental body shall be OPEN to the public.”
The meetings must be held within the boundaries of
the school district.
 Open session meetings cover public business
matters or public policies.

6.  Defines meetings as staff briefing sessions where board
members receive information or give information to a third party
A written notice must be accessible at the administration
building to inform the public about the place, date, time, and
subjects at lease 72 hours BEFORE the meeting
Only subjects on the written notice should be discussed
Tape recording or written minutes must be kept to reflect the
subject(s) discussed, decisions, or other actions taken. These
recordings will be kept for at least 2 years

7.  Closed meetings that are NOT open to the public
must involve:
1. Purchase or lease of real estate property
2. Security measures
3. Receipt of gifts
4. Consultation with attorney
5. Personnel matters
6. Economic development
7. Certain homeland security matters
**Closed meetings must adequately describe the
subjects that will be discussed in a public notice

8. The Right to Know
 Guarantees the public has access to government
information. The Texas Government Code gives
citizens the right to access government
records, without having to state a reason for the
request.
 Every citizen is entitled to a prompt and
appropriate response to an open records request.

9. RIGHT TO KNOW RIGHT TO PRIVACY
 Name, sex, ethnicity, s  All personal
alary, title, and dates Information and
of employment lifestyle matters that
will violate someone’s
 Educator’s degree privacy
obtained and
curriculum studied  Evaluation documents
 Records and  Transcripts
allegations against a
school personnel

10. Rights to Know
vs.
Rights to Privacy

11. FERPA is a federal law that protects the
privacy of student education records. The law
applies to all schools that receive funds from
the state
This Act ensure student and parental rights
in education. It also allows a student to VIEW
or COPY the items inside of their records.

12.  Parents can deny the release of information to third
parties pertaining to their child
 Parents have unlimited access to their child’s attendance
and counseling records, test scores, reports about
behavior, and ANY files, documents, and other material
maintained by the school district pertaining to their child.
 Parents are entitled to receive a understanding about
assessments that may be used to determine learning
behaviors and personality traits. Parental consent is
needed.
 Parents can challenge or question the content found in
the records and request an amendment to be added in
the file if the records are misleading.

13. If a school violates the regulations of FERPA
they risk the chance of termination of federal
funding through the U.S. Department of
Education. Educators can face termination of
employment!
McGilvray v. Moses, 1999

14. The 4th Amendment guarantees the rights of
the people to be secured in their
persons, house, paper, and effects, against
UNREASONABLE searches and seizures, shall
not be violated, and no warrants shall issue
but upon probable cause

15. The Right to Privacy or the Right to
Know
 Are students protected by the Fourth
Amendment “the right from
unreasonable searches” when randomly
asked to submit to a urine test?

16. Yes, BUT….
 As general rule, most districts practice their
right to know when suspicion arises. If an
individual is suspected of illegal drug
possession or usage, they can be subjected to
drug testing.
 *This rule also applies to educators. Some degree of
individualized suspicion is needed

17.  Do school officials hold the same RIGHTS as
parents to search a student to preserve
order?

18.  YES!.....
 School officials can search a student if:
1. a there is a REASONABLE cause that the student
has violated a school rule or law.
2. the search is appropriate for the age, gender, and
nature of offence
**A search can include lockers, cars, backpacks,
and personal belongings

19.  A school district or school can enforce a policy
that requires a general search for ALL students.
However, the students must be aware of this
action in the student code of conduct. This
includes random drug testing and metal
detectors.
 Students should also know that any item in
“plain view” will be taken and could be
subjected to discipline measures.
*students’ privacy rights are limited in the public school setting
because the district is responsible and expected to maintain order.

20. The use of sniffer dogs or metal detectors to inspect personal
belongings, lockers and cars on school property is NOT
considered a search during a general search.
However….
Once a sniffer dog or metal detectors alerts school
officials, there is grounds for REASONABLE SUSPICION
and a search can be conducted to locate the
contraband

21.  The United States Supreme court ruled that
public schools are entitled to protection of
the Fourth Amendment.
 Yet, the courts realized that school officials
may need to perform searches to maintain
order. The FULL protection of the
Constitution Does NOT apply to students.

22.  TheEducators’ Right to
Know and Right to
Privacy…

23. Is the personal information stored on a teacher’s
school-district owned computer private
information?

24.  NO!
If the computer was issued by the school
for educational purposes, it should not
be used for private or personal use. The
information stored on the computer is
NOT considered private information and
can be inspected by the district at
anytime.

25.  “Theconstitutional right of
privacy does not protect against
the disclosure of information
about unlawful activity”
 P.350

26.  Defamation is false and unprivileged spoken words
or written publication, which expose ridicules to
lower the reputation of someone. These
statements has a tendency to cause damage to
one’s occupation.
Two types of defamation:
slander- oral statements
libel- written statements

27. 1. the words meets the definition of defamation
2. the words were communicated to a third party
3. the words are false
4. caused injury
These conditions suggest some defense to claim of defamation.
Employees have the RIGHT to clear their names if their reputation is stigmatized due
to defamation
Hammond v. Katy ISD

28.  The community, educators, and students have
the RIGHT to KNOW and the RIGHT to PRIVACY.
 When a situation involves personal
information, student records, students
rights, work ethics, searches, and seizes, it is
necessary for one act with caution and use
common sense to avoid violating someone’s
constitutional rights and the risk of a lawsuit.
Know the difference between the Right to KNOW
and the Right to PRIVACY.