A New Jersey school district accidentally revealed the names of dozens of students who were pulled out of sex education classes by their parents after the names accidentally appeared in a public records request.
Kwame Morton, superintendent for the Cherry Hill school district, said that the names were released after a public records request was submitted asking for the number of students pulled out of sex education in the school district, as reported by NJ.com.
The names were originally redacted in PDF versions of the files that the district had, but when the records were republished in another format, the names of up to 92 students appeared, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer.
District parent Harry Vasquez has since asked the Department of Education to investigate, accusing the school district of violating the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
"A lot of parents are upset," Vazquez told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "Somebody needs to be held accountable."
The names were removed from the public records request website as soon as the district was made aware, according to a letter from the district's attorneys obtained by the Inquirer. Morton added that additional training on confidentiality rules and updated security measures have been implemented.
"I am pleased to report that there have been no known reports of negative interactions or teasing among the students involved as a result of this incident. We understand the seriousness of maintaining our students' privacy and are committed to implementing enhanced secure redaction techniques to prevent such occurrences in the future," Morton wrote in an email Friday obtained by NJ.com.
Vasquez told NJ.com he would hear back from the Department of Education regarding his request in three months.
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