One local business owner, who is also a grandfather of a child attending a school in the Hastings Prince Edward District School Board, opposes the upcoming voluntary student census.
The school board announced recently that it will be running a voluntary, board-wide census of all students to gauge the diversity of the student population.
Frank Hendry tells Quinte News that he doesn’t see why the census needs to be administered or why it needs students over fourth grade to specify their gender identity and/or sexual orientation.
“Well, my main objection to it is the invasion of privacy and I’m concerned about the lack of security of the data. They’re going to gather this data on, basically, children who are going to be making decisions about their sexual orientation and their gender identity that may very well change over time. They’re going to gather this data and attach it to the student’s record and, you know, how secure is it?”
Hendry referred to the ongoing issues surrounding a massive data breach in the Newfoundland and Labrador healthcare system.
He also questioned what they’re going to do with the data and why it can’t be administered anonymously.
Hendry tells Quinte News that his daughter has reached out to the school board for clarity, as have other people he knows, and that they’re receiving mixed messages in return.
“Well there’s a lot of confusion, I think. Actually, there’s a couple of people I know who have contacted the school board and they’ve been getting varying answers as to whether it is attached to the student data or not. To me, the telling thing is the staff is completing their survey too and it’s anonymous. So, they’re protecting their staff’s anonymity, but they won’t the students’.”
He said that if he could tell the school board anything, he would ask them to rethink the survey and, at the very least, make it anonymous for students.
According to the HPEDSB Director of Education Katherine McIver the staff survey has a participation rate of approximately 50% as of Thursday.
On the HPEDSB web page for the census, under FAQs, it states:
“The student census is confidential but not anonymous. Responses will be linked to student records so we will be able to use the results to better understand the diversity within our student population and so we can work to ensure equity for students of different backgrounds. Individual responses, like all other personal student and family information, will remain confidential and protected under freedom of information and protection of privacy legislation.”
It further states that the data will be “stored in a secure, confidential database” that can only be accessed by authorized board staff.
According to the FAQ page, formal parental or guardian consent is not required.
The survey is set to begin the week of November 15 and any students who do not want to participate must have their parents contact the school by November 10.
Read more about the survey here.
