Protecting Student Confidentiality When a School Crisis Hits

When a crisis situation arises in a school community, superintendents and their colleagues must work quickly to address the issue and communicate with parents, staff, students and other stakeholders.

But in the midst of doing so, public education leaders can face a dilemma. They must balance the need to communicate openly and honestly about a situation while meeting their legal and ethical responsibility to protect students’ privacy.

At times, striking this balance can be frustrating and stressful. Recently, we advised a superintendent on a situation in which a high school student consumed a substance before coming to school and showed signs of an overdose in a classroom during the first period of the school day. First responders came and the student was transported to a hospital for treatment.

Within an hour, rumors had begun swirling on social media and the school was being inundated with calls from concerned parents as well as news media. The superintendent was being pressured to share the entire story, but she could not do so in the interest of student confidentiality. Instead, she simply stated that a student had experienced a medical emergency and that the school day was proceeding as usual.