Breech by teachers’ union ‘egregious’
Saskatchewan’s privacy czar is blasting teachers who completed a survey organized by their union for an “egregious” privacy breach that may have compromised thousands of students’ personal information.
The teachers who filled out the survey last spring demonstrated a “complete lack of understanding of the fundamentals” of Saskatchewan’s privacy laws, Information and Privacy Commissioner Ron Kruzeniski found.
“Whenever a teacher is requested to disclose personal information of students to any third party, the first question should be, ‘Under what authority?’ ” Kruzeniski wrote in the report issued late last month.
“Clearly, that consideration did not factor into the decision making of those teachers when completing the survey,” he added.
Kruzeniski went on to note he was “disturbed” by teachers’ explanation that they trusted the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) to do its due diligence and not ask them to do anything unethical.
“This lack of understanding needs to be addressed immediately,” he wrote.
The federation launched the survey in the spring of 2019 as a means of obtaining empirical data on under-resourced classrooms, with the aim of strengthening its position during contract negotiations.
Documents obtained by the Saskatoon Starphoenix in September show the Saskatchewan School Boards Association, backed by the provincial government, moved swiftly to shut it down, citing privacy concerns.
The survey asked teachers to rank each of their students’ performance in 16 areas, including attendance, academic performance, reading level, behaviour, and medical and personal needs. The students were identified by initials.
While the SSBA contended that was sufficient to violate students’ privacy rights, STF president Patrick Maze said at the time the data would never have been released by the federation or the third party tasked with administering the survey.
In an interview Monday, Maze said the use of initials was for teachers’ reference and there was no way for the third-party analytics company to “track back” and identify any individual.
Maze went on to suggest the situation is “blown out of proportion,” and questioned why the SSBA and provincial government would not want data on classroom resources, which both sides have acknowledged are a problem.
“We still, at the end of the day, need to address class complexity … How are we going to do that if we pretend everything’s fine?” he said, adding that there is little other information available about class complexity.
Kruzeniski concluded “it does not appear” students consented to have their personal information disclosed to a third party — in this case, the federation, which is distinct from the school boards that employ teachers.
“Every time a survey was completed and submitted by a teacher, a privacy breach occurred,” he wrote.
It is not clear, however, how many students were affected. The STF estimated between 200 and 300 surveys were completed, while the SSBA indicated to Kruzeniski’s office that 116 teachers finished it.
As a result, the privacy commissioner estimated between 3,000 and 8,000 students may have been affected.
He concluded his report with recommendations aimed at strengthening privacy for the STF and school divisions.
“School divisions acknowledge this is an unfortunate circumstance and are taking the recommendations (in the report) very seriously,” SSBA president Shawn Davidson said in a statement.
The SSBA is working with the STF and government to “better understand the contributing factors” to class size and complexity issues “without compromising the personal information of students,” he added.
Kruzeniski’s report comes two months after the province’s 13,500 teachers voted 85 per cent in favour of a new four-year contract, ending a long dispute with the provincial government.
In agreeing to the new contract, teachers abandoned their desire to have it include a mechanism for ensuring teachers have sufficient resources to manage students with increasingly high needs.
The provincial government strenuously objected to that proposal, which was the main sticking point in negotiations and the reason for a job action vote earlier this year, and preferred a parallel process that included teachers.
Education sector sources have said uncertainty stemming from the new coronavirus pandemic likely played a significant role in teachers voting for the government’s offer.
The new contract includes a zero per cent wage increase for 2019 followed by three consecutive two per cent hikes.
The STF had said previously it would not be “bought off ” on class composition issues.
Students and teachers, who have been working remotely due to the new coronavirus pandemic, are expected to return to school in the fall.