These comments are offered in response to questions by many independent schools.

The Act does not apply to independent schools.

The Act applies to all public institutions but excludes private schools from its application. This means that you do not need to institute all the elaborate procedures that are being undertaken by some public schools in relation to student records, photos, and other information that may somehow be made public. Neither are your board or administrative documents subject to the Act. In short, the proclamation of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act does not apply to your school and you are not required to make any changes to your operation to comply with the Act.

Indirectly, the Act does apply to certain information.

Having said the above, you should be aware that anything you submit to Alberta Education has always been and continues to be, by definition, public information and is subject to FOIP.

Because this includes your Annual Reports and your 3-year plans, you may from time to time wish to consider whether all the information that Alberta Education requests in those plans is of public concern or needed to protect the public interest. This applies especially to non-instructional issues, including finances and capital projects and planning. If Alberta Education cannot justify why it needs the information it may not have the legal right to collect that information. Whatever information you do provide becomes public under FOIP.

The Act may be useful anyway.

With or without FOIP, people have certain rights to information and privacy. (The only difference is that FOIP eliminates the need to go through the courts to enforce those rights.) If FOIP helps us to develop good policies about the collection and sharing of information and files, it is useful even if it isn’t mandatory.

As you develop policies, ask the questions you would ask anyone else with whom you have information or privacy concerns:

1. Can the school justify to an impartial third party why it is collecting and maintaining the information in these files?
2. Do you have a clear policy about what information may be shared with whom, and – where it is appropriate – are you informing the people giving the information? (E.g.: health concerns, school marks, etc.)
3. Is there an appeal process whereby an individual can access information, protect personal information and request corrections to information in personal files?

Some Practical Questions to guide school policies

Does a student or staff member have a right to review information concerning him or her in the school files?

Yes, and this includes the parents or guardians of the students. They also have the right to request corrections. Schools need to be careful that such files contain only information that can be justified as being needed.

Do we need parental permission to print student work or pictures in yearbooks or newsletters, or to put their names and addresses in a school directory?

No, but you should inform the parents in a newsletter or parent handbook that you will do this. It is up to the parents to inform you if they do not wish their children’s pictures, names or addresses published.
(Hint: Make it a statement of what you will do, such as "Throughout the year we celebrate our students and their work in newsletters and the yearbook. We will publish a directory of student names and addresses by the end of September." Don’t turn it into a negative permission request like "Unless we hear otherwise we will assume that you have given permission.")

May we give information to the media to publicize an individual student’s achievements?

Yes, as long as parental consent has been given beforehand. Where appropriate you should also first obtain the student’s permission. This also applies to situations where you invite public officials to make awards to students or congratulate them on their achievements.

May parent volunteers mark student exams and may students mark each other’s tests?

Yes. Allowing students to mark each other’s tests is usually part of group learning, but use discretion. Parents and other volunteers should be required to protect the privacy of any personal information regarding staff or students that they obtain in their role as volunteers.

May we tell parents how their children are doing in relation to other students?

Of course. As long as individual students are not named, you will want to tell parents about the academic performance of the school on, for example, the Achievements Tests. You may also share class averages with parents and even give them a list of other students’ marks as long as the names of students are excluded.

May we post student marks or detentions in a public place in the school?

This is probably not a good idea because it can be an invasion of privacy. Use discretion to distinguish between relatively innocent listings of attendance or "books read contests" and more questionable lists that may give offense.

May we post the names of people owing tuition or fees?

No. This would be an invasion of privacy because it may indicate a family’s financial circumstances.

For more information on FOIP and related issues, see the Alberta FOIP homepage at foip.gov.ab.ca

Much of the above material comes from the "Frequently Asked Questions for School Jurisdictions" section of the government web site. Consult this web site for other suggestions