Personal information about thousands of students and their families was sent out in a mass back-to-school e-mail by the South Washington County School District in what school officials are calling "an inadvertent employee error."
In a statement issued Thursday, the district said the e-mails sent Wednesday by its transportation department were intended to provide bus information for the coming school year. But also included was a document that revealed students' names, grades, student identification numbers, e-mail and mailing addresses, phone numbers, bus routes, pickup and drop-off times and locations, and schools of attendance.
Although some of that information is deemed public, a district statement read, some of it is private and "should not have been sent to the parents of other students in the district."
The statement did not say how many students were affected. The Woodbury Bulletin reported the number at roughly 9,600. The first day of school for grades 1-12 is Sept. 5.
An internal investigation into the mistake has begun, and at this point, "we know the disclosure was the result of an inadvertent employee error," the district statement read.
"We are now looking at what led to the error, so we can take steps to prevent similar errors from occurring in the future," the statement added. "After the investigation is completed, the district will prepare a report [that] parents may access."
As part of their statement, administrators said they would not answer media questions, including whether the district will offer free identity theft monitoring to families, as it did after an employee data breach earlier this year. Calls to school district officials were not returned.
In a follow-up e-mail to families revealing the latest disclosure, Superintendent Keith Jacobus said, "I apologize for this error. As the district staff works to determine the best way to address the current situation, I am requesting that you delete the attachment and refrain from forwarding it."
