Month: October 2021

There is a very concerning trend that is happening around this province in our school districts, and that is related to disappearing counselling notes and other sensitive student information.

We have case law from the Supreme Court of BC with expectations and instructions for the school boards on what they should be doing regarding counselling notes, but schools districts do not have policy as they should around this. This is regarding the notes being kept on school property and not taken home by the counsellor, notes being kept separate from the student record and locked, etc.

https://www.oipc.bc.ca/orders/298

https://www.oipc.bc.ca/orders/1226

79 (1) Subject to the orders of the minister, a board must

(a) establish written procedures regarding the
storage, retrieval and appropriate use of student records, and

(b) ensure confidentiality of the information
contained in the student records and ensure
privacy for students and their families.

If you are a parent who has had issues regarding this, or are concerned about this, I offer you a standard letter to send to your school board’s trustees and please CC: the Secretary-Treasurer and consider including the Ministry of Education in your email.  Feel free to write your own with your own individual issues, however, for those who just don’t have the spoons at the moment but are still very concerned, I offer you a letter below. Please attach the case in the link above to your email. The email addresses you will need you can find on your school districts website.

The Ministry of Education needs to have their legislation match current laws. Please email the Ministry of Education or your MLA’s to express your feelings on this matter.

Dear Trustees,

It has come to our attention a concerning trend in missing counselling notes. Confidential student information has gone missing in many school districts and this is an administrative crack in the system that is a disadvantage to students and their parents for many reasons.

We would like to bring to your attention case law that has already been established by the Supreme Court of Canada that states counselling notes are protected under the School Act as property of the school district and that they should be kept locked and treated as school records. In this decision it also states that school boards should develop policy around the storage of counselling notes.

We are requesting that you review your own school policy around school records and confirm if counselling notes have been added to this policy and if not, to implement new policy connected to the legal standards established by the Supreme Court. Please see the attached case law for your reference.

Kind Regards,

Parents SD##

The first email that I sent the principal to advocate for my son included a description of my concerns and then a statement about how I am not placing blame with the teacher at all, but that there must be something else up, because this is what I am seeing.

Anything before that moment never involved the principal and always involved conversations with the teacher, making myself very clear that I loved them to bits.

Fast forward many years and I have filed so many complaints with external organizations I need to keep a flow chart to remember everything and when anyone goes past their legislated due date, I follow up with another complaint.  I kid you not, I have a timeline and a flow chart! 6 TRB complaints, 3 Ombudsperson complaints, 4 OIPC complaints, 8 FOI requests, 1 Human Rights complaint, and so many emails to the Ministry of Education and mini due dates for each individual complaint filed I would need to look through all my papers and count to give you a final number. I am even filing complaints on the very organizations I am filing complaints with.

My first round of complaints and I broke out into stress hives. I had them around my back and chest all around my heart. I felt horrible. The first time I walked into the elementary school and the principal looked at me like she wanted to rip my heart out, I felt my stomach drop. When I saw a staff member at a board meeting that I reported senior admin to, I almost tripped over my feet walking through the door and then secretly hoped for an earthquake to commence to break up the meeting.

I had to give myself permission to be blunt with people. To communicate in a way that was not motherly or nurturing. To be professional and collect evidence and think strategically. To risk people feeling uncomfortable around me, and have people not like me.  I had to risk people talking about me in ways, that I will never know.

It is a very uncomfortable feeling. I am not an aggressive person.  At the same time…. when you feel cornered and under attack, you never really know yourself until you are pushed to your limits. I have to say…they created me. They have put me through a very effective training program. I have been whittled down by their games into a fine advocacy tool. I am now, thankful for that. I now can say, I am assertive, honest, and effective. Before any difficult meeting, I take a deep breath and think to myself…”I say this with love”, and I get to the point.

We need to give ourselves permission to advocate.

To stand firm in our opinions.

To voice our thoughts and feelings.

To not be “nice”.

To be effective, and not let them manipulate themselves out of the situation.

To hold people accountable.

To be bold.

To take risks.

To fail.

To try again.

To be vulnerable.

To speak our truth and stick to it.

All of the advocates who have come before me have given themselves permission to be and do all of these things. I gift this to myself and I want to gift it to all of you.

We can step out of the socially expected roles of how a “nice mother” behaves. We can be compassionate and caring people and we can also speak our truth and not allow people to walk all over us.  

We can be strong.

But toxic kindness, can go fuck itself.