A parent turned to Ann Marie Banfield for help after a non-academic survey/poll was distributed to students without first notifying Parents and getting permission from them (a violation of NH State Law).
This was rather egregious as it had to do, in part, with student mental health perceptions. -Skip
Superintendent Steel: Pursuant to the Right to Know Law (RSA. 91-A), I am requesting public access, within 5 business days, to the governmental records reasonably described as follows
1) Provide a copy of the parent permission slip that was required prior to the distribution of the non-academic survey referenced by Madeleine Daniel (57:00, video here)
2) Provide a copy of the non-academic survey and all of the questions referenced by <redacted>.
3) Provide a copy of the email sent to all of the students who took the survey referenced by Madeleine Daniel. Who sent it and who received the replies?
4) Provide a copy of the parent permission slip that was required prior to assessing the students’ mental health as referenced by Madeleine Daniel.
5) Provide a list of individuals who have had access to this highly sensitive personal information, when the surveys were sent back.
6) Provide details on where these surveys are located now. Have they been destroyed? Who will have access to the surveys that included questions on the student’s mental health status?
7) What student privacy laws were followed?
8) Provide details on whether students included their name/unique pupil identifier number on their survey.
9) Provide a copy of the ethical guidelines followed when assessing a student’s mental health.
10) Provide the credentials, education and privacy restrictions for those administering mental health services as referenced by Madeleine Daniel.
11) Provide all emails and documentation from those in the district who were responsible for this survey’s distribution and approval.
12) Provide details on how this survey was made available for parents to review prior to the distribution to their children. On the web site? Etc?
Per RSA 91-A:4 IV(c) If you deny any portion of this request, please cite the specific exemption used to justify the denial to make each record, or part thereof, available for inspection along with a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the information withheld.
Please let me know when these records are available for inspection or you may email the records to me at banfieldannmarie@gmail.com
Thank you for your lawful attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Ann Marie Banfield
Superintendent Steel’s response:
On Thu, Jul 1, 2021 at 5:15 AM Adam Steel <asteel@sau39.org> wrote:
Hello Ms. Banfield-
Thank you for reaching out and for your advocacy for student privacy and parental rights in our state.
First, this survey was created, written, and administered by a student and sent to other students. Ms. Daniel contacted me and said that she intended to use a poll to gather information from other students to inform her input to our re-opening task force. This practice is fairly common at Souhegan High School, especially from the moderator of the Community Council- a role held by Ms. Daniel. In short, I did not consider this to be a non-academic survey at the time.
However, upon reflection (in no short reason as a result of your inquiry), I would assume some parents might consider it to be just that. As a result, I believe I erred by allowing the survey to be distributed. Ms. Daniel’s intention was to gather input and to ensure students had a voice in the re-opening plan. While I cannot unring the bell, I am going to notify parents today that the survey was sent.
All of the student data was destroyed and is not able to be seen by anyone. I will answer your specific questions inline below, but thank you for calling this issue out to my attention, and I hope that if you ever have other concerns about my district, you continue to call them out.
If you would like to discuss further, please call me at 603 673-2690. I will call you at the number listed below a little later today to follow up and see if you have additional questions.
Sincerely,
Adam Steel
1) Provide a copy of the parent permission slip that was required prior to the distribution of the non-academic survey referenced by Madeleine Daniel (57:00)
There was no permission slip.2) Provide a copy of the non-academic survey and all of the questions referenced by Madeleine Daniel.
Because the data has been destroyed, I need to get a copy of the questions from Ms. Daniel’s presentation from yesterday. Once I receive it, I will forward it to you.3) Provide a copy of the email sent to all of the students who took the survey referenced by Madeleine Daniel. Who sent it and who received the replies?
The email was sent to souhegan students and AMS 6-8 grade students.4) Provide a copy of the parent permission slip that was required prior to assessing the students’ mental health as referenced by Madeleine Daniel.
There was no permission slip.5) Provide a list of individuals who have had access to this highly sensitive personal information, when the surveys were sent back.
The only people with access were myself and Ms. Daniels. I did not review the data, and Ms. Daniel created summary charts which were shared in the meeting yesterday.6) Provide details on where these surveys are located now. Have they been destroyed? Who will have access to the surveys that included questions on the student’s mental health status?
All of the data has been destroyed.7) What student privacy laws were followed?
8) Provide details on whether students included their name/unique pupil identifier number on their survey.
Students could optionally provide their name, but the survey did verify that each student was a student in our schools by requiring them to be signed into their Google account.9) Provide a copy of the ethical guidelines followed when assessing a student’s mental health.
Student mental health was not assessed.10) Provide the credentials, education and privacy restrictions for those administering mental health services as referenced by Madeleine Daniel.
Our school social workers are all credentialed through the DOE and many are licensed through DHHS in their field.11) Provide all emails and documentation from those in the district who were responsible for this survey’s distribution and approval.
There is only one email conversation that I am aware of. It is attached.
12) Provide details on how this survey was made available for parents to review prior to the distribution to their children. On the web site? Etc?
As I mentioned above, because at the time I did not consider it to be a non-academic survey, it was not posted to our website previously.
And the following is very important when you are issuing RTKs:
Per RSA 91-A:4 IV(c) If you deny any portion of this request, please cite the specific exemption used to justify the denial to make each record, or part thereof, available for inspection along with a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the information withheld.
Please let me know when these records are available for inspection or you may email the records to me at banfieldannmarie@gmail.com
Because:
From: “Ann Marie Banfield” <banfieldannmarie@gmail.com>
To: “Adam Steel” <asteel@sau39.org>
Cc: TGauthier@sau39.org; ekuzsma@sprise.com; vparisi@sau39.org; tbehm@sprise.com; jconklin@sau39.org; slawrence@sau39.org; peckhoff@sau39.org; jhinckley@sau39.org; sokeefe@sau39.org; jglover@sau39.org; sgrund@sau39.org; ltaylor@sau39.org; scoughlan@sau39.org; cpeters@sau39.org; gtorres@sau39.org; pgrondstra@sau39.org; “Edelblut, Louis (Frank)” <Louis.F.Edelblut@doe.nh.gov>; “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>; “Steve Mac Donald” <steve@granitegrok.com>
Sent: 7/1/2021 11:43:12 AM
Subject: Re: Right to Know Request on Student Survey
Dear Mr. Steel, Thank you for your prompt reply.
I would like clarification on two questions:
#7 was left blank. I will assume that student privacy laws were not considered when conducting this survey?
#10 did not include information on the education level of those administering mental health services to your students. In addition, you provided no details on privacy restrictions placed on those who administer mental health services. That can include their ethical guidelines they must follow when assessing or treating students for their mental health as described by Madeleine Daniel in her presentation.
Please provide clarification on these two items. I will wait for those questions that were answered on the survey.