Part 1
Part 2
Today I opened an email from a parent who informed me that an anesthesiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital was charged with producing and sharing child pornography. One would think that this would be one of the most trusted places for their children to be treated, and yet, children may have been treated by a predator.
We have amazing people working at Boston Children’s hospital and in our schools, but public schools are public institutions. What they do with children in their care, should be known to the public. Public oversight helps keep our public institutions accountable to those who are paying the bills.
We know the dedication and commitment our public school employees have when it comes to educating our children, but once in a while, we find out that some of these employees have nefarious, and sometimes criminal intent. This is why it’s even more important to make sure everything they are doing, is made transparent.
Sununu Signs Bill Expanding Parental Notification Law to Include Gender Curriculum
As a parental rights advocate in New Hampshire, I want parents to be fully informed on what school personnel will be discussing with their children. When it comes to sexuality or sexual topics, that’s even more important. The last thing parents want, is to find out that their child has been groomed, and assaulted by an individual who abused their position.
Having parents, and even the public as a second set of eyes, helps these institutions remain committed to an atmosphere free of harm and abuse.
Our laws have been set up so that public institutions provide the public, the transparency they deserve. New Hampshire law RSA 91-a allows the public to access government records, but that must be managed with respect to a person’s right to privacy.
I have also been one of the leading voices in New Hampshire respecting the privacy of students and families. So when I request documentation from a school district, I expect that they will redact personal information once the documents are released to me. I expected this from Sanborn’s Superintendent after filing a 91-a recently.
Unfortunately Superintendent Ambrose has put up roadblocks trying to deny me my request to review government documents. One has to wonder, why would the Superintendent refuse to provide the government documents, and redact the student’s personal information? Is there something they need to keep hidden from the public?
Thomas Ambrose
Fri, Jul 19, 10:43 AM
to me
Hi,
I am responding to your July 16th email.
The law requires that the District “provide a written statement of the specific exemption authorizing the withholding of the record and a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the record withheld.” The law does not, as the you claim in your email, require the District to identify the specific provision of the RSA or to quote an exact part of the law. However, to the extent I did not make this more clear in previous emails, student records are exempt confidential records under RSA 91-A:5, III and IV, and are also private records pursuant to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. 1232g, as well as RSA 189:67 and related laws, all of which state that student personally-identifiable data shall be considered confidential and privileged and shall not be disclosed, directly or indirectly.
Student personally-identifiable data includes any “information that, alone or in combination, is linked or linkable to a specific student that would allow a reasonable person in the school community, who does not have personal knowledge of the relevant circumstances, to identify the student with reasonable certainty.” This broad definition obligates school districts to refuse to release records and communications related to individual students.
Thanks,
Dr. Thomas J. Ambrose
Superintendent
SAU 17
Phone: (603) 642-3688 x 222
Fax: (603) 642-7885
MY REPLY:
Supt. Ambrose,
I believe the SCOTUS’s recent Chevron decision applies in this Dillon’s Rule State:
You said:
The law does not, as the you claim in your email, require the District to identify the specific provision of the RSA or to quote an exact part of the law.
However:
91-A:4 Minutes and Records Available for Public Inspection. –
I. Every citizen during the regular or business hours of all public bodies or agencies, and on the regular business premises of such public bodies or agencies, has the right to inspect all governmental records in the possession, custody, or control of such public bodies or agencies, including minutes of meetings of the public bodies, and to copy and make memoranda or abstracts of the records or minutes so inspected, except as otherwise prohibited by statute or RSA 91-A:5. In this section, “to copy” means the reproduction of original records by whatever method, including but not limited to photography, photostatic copy, printing, or electronic or tape recording.
IV. (a) Each public body or agency shall, upon request for any governmental record reasonably described, make available for inspection and copying any such governmental record within its files when such records are immediately available for such release.
(b) If a public body or agency is unable to make a governmental record available for immediate inspection and copying the public body or agency shall, within 5 business days of a request:
(1) Make such record available;
(2) Deny the request; or
(3) Provide a written statement of the time reasonably necessary to determine whether the request shall be granted or denied and the reason for the delay.
(c) A public body or agency denying, in whole or part, inspection or copying of any record shall provide a written statement of the specific exemption authorizing the withholding of the record and a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the record withheld.
You said in an earlier email, “Please note that we have deemed all emails between teachers and students and teachers and parents pertaining to a student’s sexuality to be student records and therefore we are not disclosing those.”
I will remind you that it wasn’t that long ago Kristi Torbick, a school counselor who worked in Exeter, pled guilty to four felony charges of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old student. She was sentenced to 2½ to five years in prison and had to register as a sex offender. Torbick worked in many school districts in New Hampshire.
Lyn Schollet, executive director of the N.H. Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, works with survivors, and was quoted as saying, “We tell children that when something bad happens to them, they should find a trusted adult. A teacher, a parent, a guidance counselor.” ….“And when they know that those adults can no longer be trusted, those children will no longer come forward.”
Parents have every right to know what is going on in their school district when it comes to government records on anything related to sexual content. These communications do not need to expose any student’s or family’s identity, but those employed in the district should have nothing to hide when it comes to what advice, counseling, or discussions they are having with children when it comes to sexual content.
As you continue to refuse to make these government documents available, the more it looks like there is something the district is hiding.
In addition, any mental health assessments or counseling that involves sexuality or sexual topics, this would require parental consent. One cannot determine if the district is following Title IV Section 4002 Every Student Succeeds Act General Provisions.https://www.everystudentsucceedsact.org/copy-of-title-iv-sec-4001-general-provisions
Public documents where an employee in this district is discussing sexuality or sexual content, should be made public with a student’s or family’s personal identity redacted. This refusal continues to raise concerns that there is something to hide.
Ann Marie Banfield