Forced to use personal email address for school business

[fiza]

What about when they are recruiting for a Headteacher ? They will be looking through numerous application forms that contain personal data of the applicants. I ask because we just went through this process.

[elsiegee40]

What about when they are recruiting for a Headteacher ? They will be looking through numerous application forms that contain personal data of the applicants. I ask because we just went through this process.

 

Again, it doesn’t happen often and there are ways of doing it without insisting on school emails... such as our secure login document area.

[enjay]

Out of curiosity, how did you manage to win that particular argument?

 

The usual answer to that is "by not offering an alternative or an exception".

[gh5000]

Has @jenhet just come up with the most god awful thing he/she can think of and just left us to gasp

 

[fiza]

Has @jenhet just come up with the most god awful thing he/she can think of and just left us to gasp

 

I had the same thought.

[enjay]

Has @jenhet just come up with the most god awful thing he/she can think of and just left us to gasp

 

 

I did wonder that! Seriously though, I'm curious to know the size and type of school, also clarification on @jenhet 's role in that school.

[Ditto]

What a cynical lot!!! But then again, maybe he/she has the most enormous Chesire grin right now... (Tip check location)

[TwistedHelixis]

Anything sensitive is handled verbally in the meetings.

 

Not sure, I am no expert, but should sensitive information with governors not be minuted?

[elsiegee40]

Not sure, I am no expert, but should sensitive information with governors not be minuted?

Governors are strategic. We should not be discussing personally sensitive information in meetings. In the event that, say, someone is put on capability it will be discussed and recorded as “a member of staff is now on capability“ We shouldn’t know who, or the details of why, as we may have to find an untainted Governors for a Disciplinary Panel at a later date.

 

What we do discuss is the types of interventions that are used to improve teaching standards.

 

As I said, naming names in a DPA/GDPR sensitive way isn’t what Governors do.

 

You need to separate Confidential from Personally Sensitive in your minds. These are very different. The first may be a reputational risk, but won’t lead to anyone breaking the law.

 

And as I keep saying, there are ways of storing and circulating documents that don’t necessarily involve school email addresses.

Edited March 3, 2018 by elsiegee40

[TwistedHelixis]

Not based on you personally but 'what you should do' and what really happens are two different things. I know of a governor that was removed from their post for reasons I do not know, but I do know it got very involved and they had to disclose their emails etc.

 

Surely its in the best interests of the school to have all governors using school accounts, as they can also be requested to hand over all emails and documents in FOI requests.

[elsiegee40]

I am not arguing against governors having school emails. I am trying to make clear what information Governors have access to.

 

There are badly run schools and GBs, but all GBs need to evaluate what they do and how they do it. Hopefully your new DPOs will be involved in this review.

 

I have started a separate thread on Confidential v Personal Data to avoid further derailing this thread.

Edited March 3, 2018 by elsiegee40

[gsk]

Regarding Govs and email addresses. I agree that they don't handle tons of Personal Data but there is some in most schools. Confidential minutes - will normally be confidential because they relate to a person. Staff restructuring - even if there are no names, if you say the Site Manager post is to be made redundant that relates to one person and would be likely to cause harm if the information were released unintentionally.

[GrumbleDook]

Regarding Govs and email addresses. I agree that they don't handle tons of Personal Data but there is some in most schools. Confidential minutes - will normally be confidential because they relate to a person. Staff restructuring - even if there are no names, if you say the Site Manager post is to be made redundant that relates to one person and would be likely to cause harm if the information were released unintentionally.

 

And this is where the use of cloud storage to hold and control files works best. No files should be emailed around. Ever. Hard copy handed to the relevant Governor, or made available online to download / review.