2010.10.27
Parents question FOIA requests for student directory information
Update, 8:30 a.m., Oct. 28 I appreciate the comments and the feedback. I’ll reiterate that we had no malicious intentions with our FOIA request.
Here’s a link to my column in this morning’s paper. It explains how I wish our newsroom had been clearer with the school systems about how we planned the information. It was a good learning moment for me. I also wish the school systems had talked more with us before sending out a letter that would have alarmed me if I had gotten it, just as it did many of you. I completely understand the concern that’s being expressed by parents.
Update, 2:45 p.m. A news crew from WDBJ (Channel 7) is coming to the newsroom to talk to me about these FOIA requests. That’s good. It will give me a chance to get this message out to even more people. I’m also going to write a column (very similar to this blog post) for tomorrow’s paper.
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In the past two days, I’ve heard from about 20 parents in Giles and Floyd counties asking why one of our reporters sent Freedom of Information requests asking for student directory information from the school systems in those counties.
“Why would you want or need this information? To me this is a good way to get our kids names and addresses into some perverts hands,” one person wrote in an e-mail.
These parents contacted me after the two school systems sent letters, e-mails and voicemail messages alerting parents to our request and offering each family the option to opt out of all FOIA requests for student directory information.
I would have questions too if I got a similar letter six weeks into the school year.
I’ve enjoyed talking with these parents and most have sounded satisfied with the explanation and background I shared. So, I figured I better get it out to a wider group.
So, yes, we did send a Freedom of Information request asking for student directory information, including student names, phone numbers, enrolled schools, enrollment date and grade in school.
We gather this public information to have it available to us as a reporting tool for news stories.
For instance, when a 13-year-old girl was killed in a car accident last week we used student directory information we had gotten from Montgomery County schools to contact the girl’s mother. The mother was able to tell us about her daughter and we published her comments in a story.
After publishing that story last week and realizing how helpful it had been to have the Montgomery County student directory information on file — and we’ve never had any complaints about its release or how it’s been used — we decided to ask for the same information from other area school systems.
We have no plans to publish the directory information in print or online but rather to use it a resource, just as we do the phone book. We can also use it double check the spelling of names when they come to us from some other sources.
The information is public — available not only to us but to anyone else who asks for it — under the state’s Freedom of Information act and the Family Educational Right to Privacy Act (Buckley Amendment). The school system is required to allow parents to opt out of providing this student directory information. I think this is typically done at the beginning of the school year, not when a specific request is made for the information.
It’s my understanding that this same directory information is sometimes requested by companies wanting to market information to student families (class rings, for instance). It can also be used to publicize other news, including sports rosters, honor rolls, awards and scholarships.
I’ll respond to questions here as quickly as possible — or you can drop me an e-mail at michael.stowe@roanoke.com
“For instance, when a 13-year-old girl was killed in a car accident last week we used student directory information we had gotten from Montgomery County schools to contact the girl’s mother.”
Probably not the best use of the information and a poor example of why it is desired. “We want to contact people whose children have died tragically so we can get a story at their expense”.
Comment by Henry — October 27, 2010 @ 1:13 pm
I replied separately be e-mail. I need to look at the quoted Act, but I would think there would be an exemption for minors. If not, I think Giles Co should still not comply and look for a law suit if needed. Providing information on minors in any form is not reasonable and if currently allowed should be removed.
From my perspective, this was a bad PR move on the part of the Roanoke Times. If I see any personal information being used as a result of this request, I would immediately cancel my long-time subscription. I think that Giles is wrong to even consider releasing the information with out a legal battle if that is needed. No such information should be available on minors.
I strongly suggest the Roanoke Times withdraw their request to gain back the trust of the public. I have notified some Blacksburg folks that the information for Montgomery Co. was apparently released. I was not aware of that either. Bad move to release this information, even if it is convenient for the Times.
Comment by Bill Davis — October 27, 2010 @ 1:17 pm
Henry,
Calling a parent when a child has died is one of the hardest jobs for any reporter. In some cases, the parent doesn’t want to talk with us. We completely understand and respect that choice. In other cases, including the story I referenced, the grieving parent wants to tell us about their child. The mother in last week’s story wouldn’t have had that opportunity if we had not reached out to her. Thanks for your comment, Michael
Comment by Michael Stowe — October 27, 2010 @ 2:39 pm
In the rafts of paperwork parents have to sign in the first week of school, there’s an opt-out form you can sign to preclude your child’s home info being available in the school phone book.
Comment by Kristen — October 27, 2010 @ 3:03 pm
Henry, I can confirm that what Michael says is right. Sometimes family members are offended that you have contacted them and when that happens you apologize profusely and back off. And sometimes even those people want to talk later. Others — and this is more common than you would think — are grateful to be able to tell about their loved one rather than have him or her be just another murder or traffic accident statistic. They want others to know what was special about the person they lost.
I have experienced this both as a reporter making the call and as the family member being interviewed. Neither one is easy.
Comment by gdad — October 27, 2010 @ 8:07 pm
In going to your link for the Buckley Amendment I find no mention of a newspaper having the right to information on minors. The amendment indicates issues between the schools, parents, and other “authorized” agencies. “Authorized” is my take on the wording. You seem to be pushing the intent of the act. I sure hope that you have thought about such a policy in the schools for your own children or that of your staff. Information gathering on minors smacks of abuse of the law and an attempt to get information for improper use, in your case to be able to get a story. As I mentioned, I consider this bad press for the Roanoke Times.
Comment by Bill Davis — October 27, 2010 @ 10:24 pm
Thanks for opening this up and letting everyone know they can now request this information. Hopefully this will not have a tragic ending such as someone getting children’s information and doing harm.
Comment by Original Greg — October 27, 2010 @ 11:18 pm
“Calling a parent when a child has died is one of the hardest jobs for any reporter”
Then don’t do it. I remember reporters stalking the April 16th victims families. I’m sure it was a hard job but luckily for the large news corporation there are people in the world who have no sense of decency who are willing to do it.
If I want to talk to a reporter when my child dies, I know where to find one.
Comment by Henry — October 27, 2010 @ 11:25 pm
First of all God forbid a child dies. What parent would want the MEDIA contacting them to tell them this. You had said that if you did’nt have the child’s personal information that the parents would’nt have been able to tell you a story about their child who had passed like the girl a couple weeks ago. Well how about giving every parent the option to tell a story about their child if something were to happen to their child. That way you would’nt need any personal information from anyone about their child unless the parent contacts you (Roanoke Times)and wants to talk and give you a story about their child. Yea, I think that is a Very Poor excuse to want a chid’s personal information. Who knows what you really want these children’s personal information for. I know one thing you Will Not be getting my Children’s personal information. You need to come up with a better excuse for wanting this information than the one you are using. Denise
Comment by Denise — October 28, 2010 @ 12:11 am
It comes across like another example of doing something “just because you can”, just like the Conceal-Carry list fiasco a while back. Having the right to do it doesn’t mean it’s right to do. Why not do a story on it without taking the sensationalist action you took, or is that the only way to generate an artificial controversy and sell papers? I think it’s going to hurt the paper’s reputation and circulation even further.
Comment by Will — October 28, 2010 @ 6:33 am
How is this not a violation of HIPAA?
Comment by Janet — October 28, 2010 @ 7:10 am
I am one of the parents that sent a letter REFUSING to release my child’s info! Below is a copy of what I sent (without my daughter’s info)
I am writing in response to the letter sent home stating that The Roanoke Times wants Giles County Schools to release “our” children’s information to them. I hereby refuse permission for my child’s information and family information to be released to the press. I not only have serious personal safety reasons to why I don’t won’t our information released, but I also feel that if this information is released it potentially puts all of our children in harms way due to child molesters, sex offenders, and criminals. We all as parents and caregivers have the responsibility to protect our children in any and all ways possible! In fact according to the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation pamphlet “A Parent’s Guide to Internet Safety, ” parents are advised to instruct their children ” to never give out identifying information such as their name, home address, school name or telephone number. Providing this information is in direct contradiction to the guidelines listed on the FBI website and is putting all children in jeopardy. How can we teach our children “not to talk to strangers” or give out personal information and then turn around and do the opposite ourselves. I really hope that Giles County Schools recognize that any identifying information being released to the public/press posses a risk to every family and decide not to release this information to The Roanoke Times or any media. I am also prepared, if necessary, to seek legal counsel to assure that this information is not released!
Comment by Stacey Akers — October 28, 2010 @ 7:33 am
#8 Henry, like it or not, if the media decides the death of one of your loved one is a news story, they’re going to do a story. And if your loved one is a child, they’re much more likely to want to do a story. Would you REALLY prefer that they do the story without contacting you to see if you want to talk about it (refusing to talk is not going to stop the story from being written)? In my own personal situation, even though I wasn’t sure if I wanted to talk at first, I would have been horrified if they hadn’t called me.
The death of a local person in a car accident or murder and the Virginia Tech tragedy are hardly comparable. Let me assure you, Henry, that if your child dies in an isolated local tragedy, more than a thousand reporters from around the world will NOT descend on the area for your story. Satellite trucks will NOT fill a large parking lot ready to beam the story abroad. You can rest easy on that one.
Unfortunately, when something big like the Tech shootings happens, so many reporters show up that it becomes like a pack mentality. And the pack, like in any business, includes some exceedingly ambitious people who will do most anything for an edge. It’s not something I’d ever want to be a part of. In the Tech case it also included foreign reporters who operate in a completely different manner than is acceptable in the U.S. Some of the foreign reporters had to be read the riot act. The vast majority of reporters behaved like fairly normal human beings.
Comment by gdad — October 28, 2010 @ 8:56 am
#9 Denise, you misunderstand. The reporter neither wants to nor is trying to be the person telling the parent their loved one is dead. That’s the last thing the reporter wants to do. Generally speaking, reporters never even know the name of the deceased until after the police give it to them, which doesn’t happen until after the police or somebody official has already notified the family. Are there occasional slips in the system? Probably. But I’ve NEVER known a reporter who intentionally notified a family member of a death.
BTW, I am not a reporter now, but I was one for 14-15 years.
Comment by gdad — October 28, 2010 @ 9:04 am
Mr. gdad I did not misunderstand anything. I know what I read. They are just wanting these children’s Personal information for some reason. We don’t know but I assure you somebody does. You cannot trust anyone these days. They are just trying to make up a reason for wanting this information and they are doing a BAD JOB at it. I called the Roanoke Times and talked to them and the lady I talked to did’nt even know why they were wanting it. The schools don’t even know why they want this information. Only the person/people who are behind the whole thing knows what they are doing. They will not be getting any information from me or my child. I have bought my last Roanoke Times. Oh and a to leave you a coment about what you said to Henry. No the Media should not be allowed to contact or even write a story about a child who has died without the parents permission. If the parent wants their child displayed all over the MEDIA then give the parent the option to call the Roanoke Times and say Look my child just died would you like to hear my story. That is the way it should be done but no it don’t happen like that. Denise
Comment by Denise — October 28, 2010 @ 1:45 pm
Just to leave a thought I know a situation that happened that the Media was right there trying to find out anything and everything they could just to get a story. They did’nt know if the story was true or false but it was put all over the News and in the paper. They made it Bigger than what it was. In some cases reporters they can be good but in other cases they are just out there to get a story. That is all they are worried about is getting that story out and to make it interesting and to have there name on it.
Comment by Denise — October 28, 2010 @ 2:19 pm
#15 Denise, you said in your first post that the media would be contacting parents to tell them their child had died. That’s just simply wrong.
In America, the media do not need permission to write about a death, and any law that tried to change that would violate the First Amendment. It’s that simple.
But even as a former reporter, I have to say that I find this whole FOIA request for student directory information kind of weird.
Comment by gdad — October 28, 2010 @ 2:30 pm
Has the Roanoke Times requested this information from Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem schools as well?
Comment by Elena — October 28, 2010 @ 3:12 pm
I find it very interesting that 2 days after an incident with a Floyd County Bus Driver, that all of the sudden, out of the blue, this letter was sent out. Gee, did the Roanoke Times want to know which kids rode that bus? I think so. And to make it look less suspicious, the Times ended up sending out a form to the surrounding counties.
If the Times wants to do a sensualized media story on a crime or a death or WHATEVER, then they can look at the police report after it happens to get the information.
Comment by Floydian — October 28, 2010 @ 4:02 pm
Mr. gdad I totally agree with you. Something is just wierd about the whole thing.
Comment by Denise — October 28, 2010 @ 4:37 pm
Many of these blog posts are completely off the mark. The request was made so that these reporters have adequate access to the sources (being the parents more so than their children) of information they need to provide adequate information to the public on the state of the schools they pay taxes for and send their children to. It was obviously not meant for release to the public, no matter how much the school administrators who are fighting the request are trying to make it out to be.
Without access to these sources, reporters will be ill informed about the inner workings of the schools, leaving them to rely upon the often obfuscated information that is typically released by administrators. With inadequate access to sources, reporters will have limited perspective on the real issues within schools, and in turn, the public will likewise continue be ill informed on what is going on in the schools they send their children to.
Comment by Mass Comm Major — October 28, 2010 @ 4:50 pm
I find the release of such information very disturbing. Giles Co has indicated that they changed their decision and are not going to comply with the request. The law does not require them to comply as I read it, but gives them an option to do so. To me the major problem is that if the Roanoke Times can get the information, then in a legal sense anyone should be able to get the information, even child predators. That is my major concern. The only way to prevent such use is to restrict the access to everyone unless properly authorized (the law indicates such situations).
One issue I pointed out to Michael was the bad PR this request might produce for the paper. One of my colleagues at work apparently read the news article this morning (repeating the explanation above) and told his wife to call and cancel their subscription. This whole event is not just an issue of a right or not, but rather good business sense on the part of the RT and ethics in the work place. I would not be surprised if a lot of folks decide to not renew their subscriptions after such a lame excuse for requesting the information and no attempt to understand the parental viewpoint. No wonder so many papers are having trouble surviving. You need the support of your readers to survive, not tick them off. We may yet decide to cancel our subscription, but have not decided yet. The explanation sure does not make us want to continue to take the paper. I am glad we live in a free enterprise society. We can express ourselves with our pocket books.
At least Giles Co has seen the light. After bringing the issue to light, I suspect some of the folks in Montgomery Co are going to be asking about the release of information in their schools also.
Comment by Bill Davis — October 28, 2010 @ 11:25 pm
The last I heard from giles county schools was they had a dead line for parents to write a letter stating they did not want any of their childs information released to the Media. Which ever students parents did not wrie a letter then all the information about their child would be released. Has that changed since the beginning of the week??
Comment by Denise — October 29, 2010 @ 10:51 am
#19 Any reporter who doesn’t look past the police report on a major crime or situation isn’t doing his or her job and would be fired.
Comment by gdad — October 29, 2010 @ 10:56 am
READ THIS SLOWLY AND MAKE SURE YOU PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT IS IN PARENTHASES()
We have no plans to publish the directory information in print or online but rather to use it a resource, just as we do the phone book. We can also use it double check the spelling of names when they come to us from some other sources.
The information is public — (available not only to us but to anyone else who asks for it) — under the state’s Freedom of Information act and the Family Educational Right to Privacy Act.
NOW WHAT PART OF THAT MAKES ANY SENSE??? DOES THE ROANOKE TIMES EVEN KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT???? THEY NEED TO PUT THEIR HEADS ON STRAIGHT.
Comment by Denise — October 29, 2010 @ 11:13 am
I could find nothing in the linked laws or the VA Code that gives anyone a right to the information. As far as I am concerned it is a poorly written law and should be explicit that NO information on a minor shall be released without the written consent of the parent. I do not care about the reason from the Roanoke Times, the fact that they might get the information would open the door for anyone to get it. That is very disturbing to me. Information on minors should not be available without the explicit constraint, not an opt out option.
People do not have the time to read all of the forms that schools throw at them. From what I heard about Giles, the form at the beginning of the year allowed the listing of names for sports events and such, nothing about addresses and grades.
Comment by Bill Davis — October 30, 2010 @ 6:57 pm
All well and good, I suggest the paper publish the same information of all it’s employees; in case anyone needs it.
Comment by Great Mountain — October 31, 2010 @ 2:35 am
This issue is angering a lot of Radford parents, who were not advised in advance as Giles and Floyd were. Many of us will be attending the school board meeting Tue. night to see what is said of it. My son, who is 6, was frightened when he heard that his personal information is going to strangers; he overheard me talking to a parent about it. I’ve been reassuring him that although we disagree with what was done, he is safe.
Comment by Holly Moore — November 8, 2010 @ 10:04 am
There is not one good reason that you can give me that makes me ok with you having my child’s personal information. Your use of that young girl’s death as your reason is disgusting! My children’s information is none of your business. I would ask you to do the “RIGHT” thing and return what is not yours. I spoke with Michael Stowe on Friday and he said it was not the RT intentions of upsetting parents and I say if that’s the case then you will return the information as requested by so many parents. I have cancelled my subscription with the RT because I refuse to support a business that would do this.
Comment by Kris Monday — November 8, 2010 @ 6:44 pm
I am furious after reading this request from the Roanoke Times. Understand that no-one NEEDS to read your paper to get the FACTS on local stories or issues. There are a whole host of other sources the public can turn to. You expressed that this has been a learning process. For who? US or You? If you need knowledge on the matter of releasing personal information of children, here it is…PARENTS DON’T WANT TO DO THIS!!! You no more need my child’s personal information for “reporting” than I need your home address for posting this comment.I agree with the post that read just because you have the “Right” to do something doesn’t mean it is “Right”. As for making sure all your facts are correct before reporting on some disaster that may strike my child, don’t worry the people who truly NEED to know what happened, will.
Comment by Greta Clue — November 11, 2010 @ 8:43 am
Thank you for your thorough explanation – now I understand your intent. I can see why you would want to have this information as a reporting tool – but I’m opting out today.
Even if you don’t intend to publish a directory you’re still becoming custodians of that information, to a degree, once you gather it. What’s your obligation to protect it? Do you intend to place access controls on that information within your organization, or can any of your employees simply copy the file to a portable drive and take it home?
In the Internet age, it’s hard to trust that my child’s personally identifiable information won’t be compromised, sold, transferred, or accessed without my knowledge once it’s in your hands.
Where’s the privacy agreement between the parents and the Roanoke Times?
Comment by Concerned Parent — November 11, 2010 @ 9:28 am
When I read things like this, I’m glad I canceled my subscription already. My only reason for coming to the website any more is because of the sports, food, and weather blogs because I enjoy them, but the news side of things no longer gets any support from me. The concealed carry fiasco was bad enough. Now doing FOIA requests for student directories using that rather lame and weak excuse of contacting people when there’s a tragedy, I don’t like it, and I won’t support it. I’m glad I don’t have kids, otherwise I’d be opting out of it immediately. I hope the net result of this works like the concealed permit debacle, and that these records are not released to the public. Shameful.
Comment by Other John — November 11, 2010 @ 7:34 pm
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Comment by Chance Whitelock — March 29, 2011 @ 6:31 pm