OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — An Ottawa County school district accidentally released the email addresses of high school students as part of a Freedom of Information Act request.
Allendale Public Schools sent an email warning students and guardians that 11th graders' email addresses were accidentally released as part of a batch of information sent by the district.
FOX 17 spoke with Superintendent Dr. Garth Cooper on how this happened.
Cooper explained that a parent requested directory information for parent contacts, but when the school fulfilled the request it “inadvertently included the school-issued email addresses of our 11th-grade students." No other email addresses of students were included in the information.
The superintendent added this request came from a community-led advocacy group that supports the district's bond proposal on the May ballot.
The school district is asking voters to approve an $88.1 million bond proposal to build a new multi-purpose field house, a robotics building, and improving classrooms, said Cooper.
“One member of the group used the list to send an email intended for 11th-grade parents and guardians — but because the student addresses were mistakenly included, the message was delivered to 11th-grade students,” Cooper wrote.
The superintendent said the school district takes this issue seriously and plans to review Freedom of Information Act requests response procedures to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
The district will host a community information night on the bond proposal Thursday evening inside the Oakwood Intermediate Boardroom.
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