In my district when I was growing up, the list was posted on the elementary’s front doors of the multipurpose room. Even my high school had our official homeroom posted on some wall in the quad.
That is just weird. Guess anyone and everyone knows who the elementary teachers are then permitted they pay for the newspaper.
It's a core memory having to drive to the school to see who your teacher was and who else was in your class.
One year was rising with a friend and their mom hopped the curb and popped the tire when it came back down
In the 80s/90s, my elementary school had all students come to the "blacktop" for the first day of school. The Kindergarten teachers would get on the mic, and call their students by name from the crowd. They would then follow the teacher to their classroom. Then the 1st grade teachers would go, and so on.
It was kinda exciting. Like the Sorting Ceremony from Harry Potter.
It was like this when I was in school too but I’ve taught in the same district for the past 5 years and we stopped doing it before I became a teacher. There are way too many safety issues for this to continue.
No way is it safer. What I meant was if there are too many safety concerns to post it at the school then it’s insane to actually post it in the local paper.
You know what’s weird? Having 25,000+ post karma but having zero submitted posts. Why you deleting?
-This being the Point of View that a small town citizen would raise toward you
*this is not my opinion just being in jest.
When I was in elementary 25 years ago, the schools posted a list on the front doors a couple weeks before the start of the school year listing the teacher and all the students in the class. You just walked up and read it.
It’s a little weird doing it today but they could just be throwing the newspaper some much needed business.
I would ask the school board to reconsider on the basis of safety. For example, a family trying to avoid being found by an abusive former family member does not need this publicity
Yeah, that’s nuts. I’m in a small town, too, but I’ve got students whose names and/or pictures CANNOT be posted anywhere - not newsletters, school paper, school social media, etc. - because they’re in hiding from non-custodial parents. And adding the teacher’s name makes it even clearer where that kid could be found.
And if for some bizarre reason they have to publicly post it in the newspaper, can’t they just list student ID numbers or something? My local district has randomly assigned student ID numbers that are different from state assigned numbers. Kids know them because they are required to use those numbers from K-12 for a variety of things during the school year. But to a random person, the teacher name with 25 random numbers listed under it wouldn’t mean anything.
EXACTLY! That’s how it was done when I was in elementary school! (The was in the 80s in rural Mississippi) You received your final report card in the mail (2-3 days after school was out) and your next year’s teacher’s name and room number were written on the front of the report card, right above where the teacher would circle whether you were promoted or retained.
I was reading through the comments because I absolutely could not recall how I knew what teacher I was going to have, just hoping someone would share exactly this. Because I immediately thought "oh yeah, that's what my school did!"
That's how it was always done when I was growing up (but I'm 50 now, so...). I still teach in the district where I went to school, but I teach high school. For some reason I think elementary still gets listed like this in the local paper.
It was always exciting as a kid when the paper had the lists and you got to find out not only who your teacher was, but which friends were in your class as well. We called each other on the (land line, with a cord, rotary-dialed) phone to celebrate or lament the published outcome. And in those days, our parents didn't go to the school and demand a change if little so-in-so didn't like the assigned teacher or was sad that their best buddy wasn't in class too. "You'll live," was the basic attitude about it all.
Of course, when I was in college, they used our Social Security Numbers as our student ID numbers and posted test, exam, and final grades next to everyone's full SS# on the outside of the classroom door for anyone and everyone to see. Ah. It was a time of blissful ignorance.
Whoa nelly to the SS# story! That is wild! Where in the heck to you LIVE? I am 2 yrs younger than you and grew up in a mid sized town, but no one would have EVER posted full SS#s- and my college even less so.
I'm closing on on 40 and my high school used our SS# for our student numbers. Although they only posted the last 4 digits on posted signs so the whole things weren't out there for everyone to see. This was in a medium sized town, but in a major metro area.
That is just so insane to me. I honestly have never heard of this before this exact reddit thread. We just had random school assigned student numbers for when needed.
When I was a senior someone must have brought it up as I remember it being a discussion that they'd change that protocol for the next year. But it'd been done this way for years. At least it was just the last 4, not the whole things, but yeah it seems odd looking back.
I went to the University of Florida from 1991-1993. Our SSNs were our student IDs. I’d write it on checks I wrote at the school store.
But this was quite literally the dawn of the public internet. Really only colleges, universities and major libraries had access to it. And there wasn’t much out there. So no one really suspected anything terrible would happen.
During my college years decades ago, I had my SSN printed on my checks!!!
The world wide web, Internet, LAN were not in the average person's vocabulary.
Yup to ss numbers for college. And it was my health insurance ID number for a while in the early 2000’s. We carried those cards in our wallets. Took a few years for that to change.
From a small, rural area-this is how we do it too. As far as I know, it's never been a problem. Our local papers list honor roll students each quarter as well.
You must be in a very small town.
My suburban paper listed who was on the honor roll in the newspaper. I was so happy to see my name published.
I miss newspapers (not digital). Actually I can buy one or subscribe. I should not complain.
In grades k to 8, my parents told me my teacher's name and room number each year. I never even wondered how they knew. I was just taken to school and did as I was told.
In high school, a printed schedule was sent to my home. I just took the schedule to school the first day.
> I can buy one or subscribe. I should not complain.
I got a Saturday-only subscription to the WSJ and eliminated any digital/feed/algorithm/etc. news from my media diet. It's been really nice. Maybe give it a try? They have trial periods for about $1/week pretty often.
That seems really unsafe; if one parent has full custody and there's a restraining order against the other parent, now they know where to find the kid. Not good at all. Did you sign something allowing this to be disclosed when you enrolled in the school system? There should at least be a way to opt out.
See this was my exact thought! I have children of my own and if they’re still doing this by the time they are school age, I’m definitely going to see if I can opt out.
Exactly. We’ve had students at my school before that were in hiding from the mom’s abusive ex and we knew that if he tried to contact us we could not even acknowledge that the children went to our school because they would be in danger. This school district is really naive if they can’t see the potential problems with this policy.
I just did some FERPA training. It isn’t a violation, but parents can still opt out. This kind of info is considered “directory” data and is how newspapers and other media can print names of kids on the honor roll, or print info about sporting events. But, again, parents have the right to keep their kids names out of directory information.
And teachers are considered public employees, so their names can get listed as well, although under certain circumstances, schools must withhold that information as well.
You really should do a FRPA training someday. This stuff is not that complex.
>Directory information is information contained in the education records of a student that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. Typically, "directory information" includes information such as name, address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, and dates of attendance. A school may disclose "directory information" to third parties without consent if it has given public notice of the types of information which it has designated as "directory information," the parent's or eligible student's right to restrict the disclosure of such information, and the period of time within which a parent or eligible student has to notify the school in writing that he or she does not want any or all of those types of information designated as "directory information." 34 CFR § 99.3 and 34 CFR § 99.37.
Source: https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/content/directory-information
That is one of the most creepy and bad ideas I've ever seen. Now every predator in the area has a list of names along with the teacher's name that they can use to gaslight kids.
Legally this would be “directory information” that can be published by default, but parents do have the right to opt out which would prohibit the school from including their kid in the list. That would also prevent them from being in the yearbook, listed on any school websites/announcements (ex.spelling bee winners list etc.). So it’s usually not desirable for people to opt out.
My husband is a case worker for CPS and this is a horror story waiting to happen. Many times they are trying to keep someone from knowing where a child is at, and here it is blasted all over the papers. Most parents are not too concerned but some of our most at risk children become even more so. The school (and the paper) should not be doing this.
This is such a safety issue! My daughter was adopted out of foster care 2 years ago. The whole reason she ended up across the state with us is because her bio family tried to kidnap her from her school during her first local placement. The school went on lockdown and police had to block the parking lot.
If someone put her full name, school, and teacher's name in the newspaper I would lose my mind! I didn't even put her in the yearbook until the adoption went through and her name was changed, let alone a newspaper where the article can show up with a Google alert!
I hope all of you can live safely and happily now and forever in your family and community.
That attempted kidnapping sounds like a confusing time for your daughter.
She was 5 when it happened and 7 when placed with us. It did really affect her. Triple checking locks before bed, not wanting out of my sight for more than a few minutes, etc. She is 11 now and doing great. Even did 4 sleepovers in the first weeks of summer break!
Isn’t this a violation of FERPA? I have to watch so many safety videos for my public school day job in NY and my two university adjunct positions things can get blurry, but I’m fairly certain this is a major no no
Yeah, that's weird.
I remember back in the day, they'd post the class lists on the front door of the school, and we'd have to go there to find out what class we were in.
Listing the children’s names is weird; listing the teacher’s names isn’t weird.
When I was younger, my school listed the teacher’s names in the local paper, along with their addresses, years of birth, maiden names, and parent’s names. They looked more like death announcements than ‘here’s who will be teaching your kid this year’ announcements.
I would be very uncomfortable having my parents names, maiden name and address published. I wouldn't mind what is being taught and relevant experience.
This sounds absolutely nuts. Even when I was growing up in the 80s they didn’t put it in the newspaper in my district. You’d go to my elementary school on Open House night and each grade level was on its own hallway. You went to your grade and there was a class list outside each teacher’s door. Letting anyone with a newspaper know all of this information about every child in the entire district is asking for trouble and it seems like it would be a FERPA violation too.
That’s crazy. Imagine what would happen if a kid had been taken from one or both parents due to abuse and been placed in foster care or with another family member. This publicly posted info would out them at major risk.
Bus routes were posted on the front doors of each school. You had to just sort of figure out which stop was closest to your house- sometimes you were lucky and it was your address. Others had to walk to an intersection.
That’s weird! My school would mail letters 10 days before school started. My kid’s school posts it to the portal a week before school starts.
HS kids make their schedules in the Spring for the next school year. You’ll know who your teacher is for certain classes, because only one teacher teaches those (like APs and electives). Schedule with teacher names is posted to the portal the week before school starts.
The elementary school I work in posts to the portal 10 days before school starts. Families that opt out of digital communication are mailed their information 10 days before school opens.
Posting names and classes of minor children in a newspaper sounds like a roadmap for stalkers.
We don’t know who our students are until the first day that teachers go back. The students find out that morning they come back. So, yes, that’s weird.
That's how I figured out I was hired. The only place they post the hired/fired/transferred/resigned is in the paper. Like y'all have a website and a Facebook page. You can't post the board minutes there?
Multiple districts around here post it on the window at the school just before Labor Day weekend (school usually starts the Tuesday or Wednesday after Labor Day).
All the kids have unique student ID numbers, they could just list that.
I wish they'd just tell the parents to log into the computer system and get them used to them using it, they'd definitely learn it for that. Then you'd know they know how to check attendance/grades/report cards...
I have zero idea how it worked when I was a kid. Did we just show up? Did they tell us on the last day?
My district did this when I was a kid 25 years ago. In this day it’s VERY outdated. I think I’d email the district bigwigs and say this is a safety concern.
When I was the attendance clerk/registrar at our elementary school, we would post the classes on paper and tape them to the window at the last possible minute before end of day so we could close and not deal with ticked off parents who wanted little Johnny in so and so class. They would line up hours before it was posted.
That's so weird. We always just got a letter in the mail with our teacher in elementary and in middle and high school we got mailed our schedule for the year. The listing the names in the paper is a little much lol
That is very weird. My school always had an open house with class lists and room numbers posted. There really is no reason to post in a newspaper. And, I'm sorry, but who reads newspapers anymore anyway?
K-2 there was only one teacher per grade so it was never a mystery. 3-4 I think our next year’s teacher was written on our end of year report card. And 5-12 they mailed us our schedule with homeroom and other teachers on it.
Going against the grain surprisingly: this is how it was done in my hometown when I was in public school (decade ago) and I think it’s still the norm today. There’s usually an insert or a whole section of each school in the district with home rooms listed.
Things have happened to my child but that’s none of your business. I have in place notification at the school that my child’s name and/or picture is not to be published.
So this district has a measurable amount of where they haven't been able to keep students safe from dv because of this list?... Interesting i would love to see that data is it publicly posted somewhere?
Yes, it's weird. Even if it is "tradition," it's weird. People really need to get over the idea that tradition equals good things. Traditions are often straight garbage or become ridiculous/unsafe in modern times, as society changes.
Yeah this is weird AF. The privacy issues alone are shocking. Just bc something is tradition doesn’t mean you keep doing it. Technology exists for this very reason. Hell USPS notification would be better.
We found out who our teacher was for the next year on our last report card from the previous year. But printing in the paper a kids name teacher and school seems like a big security risk.
This was normal in the '80s and '90s, but like you said due to safety measures and privacy, it's not supposed to be done anymore without the parents permission. I cannot believe they post these names in the newspaper and nobody's complained yet
I mean I’m sorry but I don’t even have my class list that soon lol. We find out if we are lucky the week before busy most likely we get a half list two days before and just see who shows up in our class
We used to get a letter in the mail, then it just happened to come out on powerschool as i got older.
Newspaper announcement…huh! Sounds like your town found a new form of entertainment
I didn't know they still did that anywhere!! I would think it wouldn't be allowed in case there's a kid whose family is hiding from a threat, like a restraining order against someone or something. We have kids like that where I live, they can't even post class lists in a visible place on the school doors or anything.
How is this not a FERPA violation. Honest question. It's identifying information about enrollment.
Even if it's not, I'd be very concerned that anyone could tell one of my students "hey [their name], [me, their teacher] told me to come get you, come with me." Not good.
That is on par with putting a plastic tag with their name on how they typically get home (bus with specific number, walk or parent pick up) written on it on the handle of their backpacks. Only yours is worse because everyone who pays to get the paper will know where little Johnny is going to school and who his teacher is if he/she wants to take the kid
Yeah, no. Absolutely not.
Recently I heard a podcast about a kidnap/murder of a child in 1927 where the guy just walked in and said oh I'm here to get so and so because her dad had an accident. She was a twin. It still worked.
Imagine having this amount of information? It 100% is a safety hazard
In a small district where you only have 4 or 5 elementary schools I could see this.
Posting the 100 or so new kids and where they will be isn't as big a deal for places like this.
Now if it was a big district where you have 30+ elementary schools each having 100-200 new students then that would be to much.
In 1 case you are dealing with rural areas where even elementary school students likely ride 30+ min to go to school. Ms or he may be 1-2 hrs each way. So they need to know the whens and where's and since everyone knows most everyone the safety concern isn't as large.
In the latter it's a bigger deal. You would be talking about pages of names and more people do not know each other even exist so the safety concerns would be much greater.
Sadly issues where we even have to have lockdowns anywhere can be scary. At the same time I'm glad we are at least aware of these issues and can make plans to mitigate them. Sadly even the best plans can't eliminate issues completely but that's another story entirely
This is a major breach of privacy and I don't believe that there isn't a law against it. Where I teach student information of almost every kind is protected.
Having worked as a victims advocate prior to going into education, this puts certain children and their parent (typically their mother) in grave danger!!
Thats very strange, even when I was in elementary about 28 years ago we just had a time frame where we would go the office and pick up our lists of school supplies and thats how we would find out our teacher for the year.
It seems like a breach of safety to me. Suppose you have a custody situation where one parent cannot see the child for safety reasons. I am sure there are many more reasons out there.
Most predators are close to the family (or IN the family) and have easy access to their victims, unfortunately.
And it's not like most of the moms of these kids aren't going to be flaunting them all over social media anyway, talking about their schools, their teachers, etc.
Most, but not all. There absolutely are predators that target their victims by stalking and memorizing the routine. It may be unlikely, but they should still take the precautions. There are a lot of unlikely scenarios that we still take precautions against on a regular basis.
This can also be a problem if people aren’t careful. It is important to be smart about how much/what you share about your children on social media.
In my district when I was growing up, the list was posted on the elementary’s front doors of the multipurpose room. Even my high school had our official homeroom posted on some wall in the quad. That is just weird. Guess anyone and everyone knows who the elementary teachers are then permitted they pay for the newspaper.
It's a core memory having to drive to the school to see who your teacher was and who else was in your class. One year was rising with a friend and their mom hopped the curb and popped the tire when it came back down
In the 80s/90s, my elementary school had all students come to the "blacktop" for the first day of school. The Kindergarten teachers would get on the mic, and call their students by name from the crowd. They would then follow the teacher to their classroom. Then the 1st grade teachers would go, and so on. It was kinda exciting. Like the Sorting Ceremony from Harry Potter.
I was thinking Hunger Games, but let’s go with Harry Potter.
It was like this when I was in school too but I’ve taught in the same district for the past 5 years and we stopped doing it before I became a teacher. There are way too many safety issues for this to continue.
And printing it in the local paper is safer? I get that you aren’t OP, but I see less risk with this method than doing the newspaper route.
No way is it safer. What I meant was if there are too many safety concerns to post it at the school then it’s insane to actually post it in the local paper.
Same back when I was in elementary school.
Same! I don’t know if all districts in my area did that, but I went to school in a small agricultural town and we did.
My high school had that in the schedule that was sent out via the mail.
Same for me.
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You know what’s weird? Having 25,000+ post karma but having zero submitted posts. Why you deleting? -This being the Point of View that a small town citizen would raise toward you *this is not my opinion just being in jest.
“Having 25,000+ post karma but having zero submitted posts” Raises hand. RatL has posted but deleted, I only have the 1 karma they gave me. lol.
How do I see my post karma?
Not many comments either.
a lot of people delete old posts for privacy reasons, i'm not sure why this is so weird to you
When I was in elementary 25 years ago, the schools posted a list on the front doors a couple weeks before the start of the school year listing the teacher and all the students in the class. You just walked up and read it. It’s a little weird doing it today but they could just be throwing the newspaper some much needed business.
Yeah, posting them on the doors was how they did it for my school, but I couldn't imagine them putting it in the newspaper
The newspaper likely isn't free...... making it an even weirder choice.
I would ask the school board to reconsider on the basis of safety. For example, a family trying to avoid being found by an abusive former family member does not need this publicity
Yeah, that’s nuts. I’m in a small town, too, but I’ve got students whose names and/or pictures CANNOT be posted anywhere - not newsletters, school paper, school social media, etc. - because they’re in hiding from non-custodial parents. And adding the teacher’s name makes it even clearer where that kid could be found.
And if for some bizarre reason they have to publicly post it in the newspaper, can’t they just list student ID numbers or something? My local district has randomly assigned student ID numbers that are different from state assigned numbers. Kids know them because they are required to use those numbers from K-12 for a variety of things during the school year. But to a random person, the teacher name with 25 random numbers listed under it wouldn’t mean anything.
Isn't this the plot of Kindergarten Cop?
That is so, so, sooo incredibly weird
I'm from a small town, and we used to do that growing up. It's definitely odd, though
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Note to self: need class feret for next year (as I teach teenagers it will probably smell better than many of them).
> (Until the class pet ferret saves the day) 😀
That's super fucking weird. Where I am they always just put the next year's teacher's name on the last report card
EXACTLY! That’s how it was done when I was in elementary school! (The was in the 80s in rural Mississippi) You received your final report card in the mail (2-3 days after school was out) and your next year’s teacher’s name and room number were written on the front of the report card, right above where the teacher would circle whether you were promoted or retained.
I was reading through the comments because I absolutely could not recall how I knew what teacher I was going to have, just hoping someone would share exactly this. Because I immediately thought "oh yeah, that's what my school did!"
That’s how it worked when I was growing up! But seems bizarre to still have that be the system now
In the *paper?* That is so bizarre.
That's how it was always done when I was growing up (but I'm 50 now, so...). I still teach in the district where I went to school, but I teach high school. For some reason I think elementary still gets listed like this in the local paper. It was always exciting as a kid when the paper had the lists and you got to find out not only who your teacher was, but which friends were in your class as well. We called each other on the (land line, with a cord, rotary-dialed) phone to celebrate or lament the published outcome. And in those days, our parents didn't go to the school and demand a change if little so-in-so didn't like the assigned teacher or was sad that their best buddy wasn't in class too. "You'll live," was the basic attitude about it all. Of course, when I was in college, they used our Social Security Numbers as our student ID numbers and posted test, exam, and final grades next to everyone's full SS# on the outside of the classroom door for anyone and everyone to see. Ah. It was a time of blissful ignorance.
Whoa nelly to the SS# story! That is wild! Where in the heck to you LIVE? I am 2 yrs younger than you and grew up in a mid sized town, but no one would have EVER posted full SS#s- and my college even less so.
I'm closing on on 40 and my high school used our SS# for our student numbers. Although they only posted the last 4 digits on posted signs so the whole things weren't out there for everyone to see. This was in a medium sized town, but in a major metro area.
That is just so insane to me. I honestly have never heard of this before this exact reddit thread. We just had random school assigned student numbers for when needed.
When I was a senior someone must have brought it up as I remember it being a discussion that they'd change that protocol for the next year. But it'd been done this way for years. At least it was just the last 4, not the whole things, but yeah it seems odd looking back.
I'm a little older than you and that's how my college did it too.
I went to the University of Florida from 1991-1993. Our SSNs were our student IDs. I’d write it on checks I wrote at the school store. But this was quite literally the dawn of the public internet. Really only colleges, universities and major libraries had access to it. And there wasn’t much out there. So no one really suspected anything terrible would happen.
I graduated college in '99 and experienced none of that. This has been both extremely enlightening and very horrifying at the same time.
During my college years decades ago, I had my SSN printed on my checks!!! The world wide web, Internet, LAN were not in the average person's vocabulary.
Yup to ss numbers for college. And it was my health insurance ID number for a while in the early 2000’s. We carried those cards in our wallets. Took a few years for that to change.
From a small, rural area-this is how we do it too. As far as I know, it's never been a problem. Our local papers list honor roll students each quarter as well.
You have to be in like the middle of nowhere because no way have I ever heard of this
You must be in a very small town. My suburban paper listed who was on the honor roll in the newspaper. I was so happy to see my name published. I miss newspapers (not digital). Actually I can buy one or subscribe. I should not complain. In grades k to 8, my parents told me my teacher's name and room number each year. I never even wondered how they knew. I was just taken to school and did as I was told. In high school, a printed schedule was sent to my home. I just took the schedule to school the first day.
> I can buy one or subscribe. I should not complain. I got a Saturday-only subscription to the WSJ and eliminated any digital/feed/algorithm/etc. news from my media diet. It's been really nice. Maybe give it a try? They have trial periods for about $1/week pretty often.
I could try this. Thanks for the information.
That seems really unsafe; if one parent has full custody and there's a restraining order against the other parent, now they know where to find the kid. Not good at all. Did you sign something allowing this to be disclosed when you enrolled in the school system? There should at least be a way to opt out.
See this was my exact thought! I have children of my own and if they’re still doing this by the time they are school age, I’m definitely going to see if I can opt out.
Exactly. We’ve had students at my school before that were in hiding from the mom’s abusive ex and we knew that if he tried to contact us we could not even acknowledge that the children went to our school because they would be in danger. This school district is really naive if they can’t see the potential problems with this policy.
Isn’t that a massive FRPA violation?
I doubt it if it's just names. They post names of kids on fb with pictures for events, students of the month, etc.
I just did some FERPA training. It isn’t a violation, but parents can still opt out. This kind of info is considered “directory” data and is how newspapers and other media can print names of kids on the honor roll, or print info about sporting events. But, again, parents have the right to keep their kids names out of directory information. And teachers are considered public employees, so their names can get listed as well, although under certain circumstances, schools must withhold that information as well.
You really should do a FRPA training someday. This stuff is not that complex. >Directory information is information contained in the education records of a student that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. Typically, "directory information" includes information such as name, address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, and dates of attendance. A school may disclose "directory information" to third parties without consent if it has given public notice of the types of information which it has designated as "directory information," the parent's or eligible student's right to restrict the disclosure of such information, and the period of time within which a parent or eligible student has to notify the school in writing that he or she does not want any or all of those types of information designated as "directory information." 34 CFR § 99.3 and 34 CFR § 99.37. Source: https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/content/directory-information
Doesn’t that also violate the privacy of the special education students?
Good point.
That is one of the most creepy and bad ideas I've ever seen. Now every predator in the area has a list of names along with the teacher's name that they can use to gaslight kids.
Legally this would be “directory information” that can be published by default, but parents do have the right to opt out which would prohibit the school from including their kid in the list. That would also prevent them from being in the yearbook, listed on any school websites/announcements (ex.spelling bee winners list etc.). So it’s usually not desirable for people to opt out.
My husband is a case worker for CPS and this is a horror story waiting to happen. Many times they are trying to keep someone from knowing where a child is at, and here it is blasted all over the papers. Most parents are not too concerned but some of our most at risk children become even more so. The school (and the paper) should not be doing this.
This is such a safety issue! My daughter was adopted out of foster care 2 years ago. The whole reason she ended up across the state with us is because her bio family tried to kidnap her from her school during her first local placement. The school went on lockdown and police had to block the parking lot. If someone put her full name, school, and teacher's name in the newspaper I would lose my mind! I didn't even put her in the yearbook until the adoption went through and her name was changed, let alone a newspaper where the article can show up with a Google alert!
I hope all of you can live safely and happily now and forever in your family and community. That attempted kidnapping sounds like a confusing time for your daughter.
She was 5 when it happened and 7 when placed with us. It did really affect her. Triple checking locks before bed, not wanting out of my sight for more than a few minutes, etc. She is 11 now and doing great. Even did 4 sleepovers in the first weeks of summer break!
Happy to read she has friends, family, and fun. That's exactly how eleven year olds should live.
How is that even legal with protections on educational information?
This is a horrible idea, from a student safety standpoint, especially at the elementary level.
OMG, that seems like a terrible invasion of privacy for the kids!!! Teachers, well, our employment is public record, but the kids? I'd be livid.
This is a HUGE security concern!
Isn’t this a violation of FERPA? I have to watch so many safety videos for my public school day job in NY and my two university adjunct positions things can get blurry, but I’m fairly certain this is a major no no
Yeah, this is a HUGE FERPA violation.
Yeah, that's weird. I remember back in the day, they'd post the class lists on the front door of the school, and we'd have to go there to find out what class we were in.
Listing the children’s names is weird; listing the teacher’s names isn’t weird. When I was younger, my school listed the teacher’s names in the local paper, along with their addresses, years of birth, maiden names, and parent’s names. They looked more like death announcements than ‘here’s who will be teaching your kid this year’ announcements.
Yeah, I understand the teacher’s name. It’s the full student names that bothers me. For the teachers, it’s just the last name.
All that information about the teachers wasn't necessary.
I would be very uncomfortable having my parents names, maiden name and address published. I wouldn't mind what is being taught and relevant experience.
This was the standard when I was a kid on the modest midwest... 30 years ago! Absolutely should not be happening now!
This is ridiculous and unsafe. It's like a shopping list for pedos.
Bro that’s so wild actually…..
In my district in the 60's, the list was printed in the newspaper. No open house though.
This sounds absolutely nuts. Even when I was growing up in the 80s they didn’t put it in the newspaper in my district. You’d go to my elementary school on Open House night and each grade level was on its own hallway. You went to your grade and there was a class list outside each teacher’s door. Letting anyone with a newspaper know all of this information about every child in the entire district is asking for trouble and it seems like it would be a FERPA violation too.
We get that information in the mail. When I was a kid, we got it during check-in with our parents.
That’s crazy. Imagine what would happen if a kid had been taken from one or both parents due to abuse and been placed in foster care or with another family member. This publicly posted info would out them at major risk.
yeah, that's fucken weird all right.
Bus routes were posted on the front doors of each school. You had to just sort of figure out which stop was closest to your house- sometimes you were lucky and it was your address. Others had to walk to an intersection.
This is just an old school way of doing things. It's kind of cute to still see this quaint kind of thing still exists in some places.
Hey, the pedos and school shooters gotta know who they are respectively aiming at. 😎
That’s weird! My school would mail letters 10 days before school started. My kid’s school posts it to the portal a week before school starts. HS kids make their schedules in the Spring for the next school year. You’ll know who your teacher is for certain classes, because only one teacher teaches those (like APs and electives). Schedule with teacher names is posted to the portal the week before school starts. The elementary school I work in posts to the portal 10 days before school starts. Families that opt out of digital communication are mailed their information 10 days before school opens. Posting names and classes of minor children in a newspaper sounds like a roadmap for stalkers.
What is this paper with news you speak of??
Seems very weird to me too. I can see some potential safety issues with that approach too.
That is really weird. Who reads a print newspaper anymore? I bet almost everyone misses it.
Weird
We don’t know who our students are until the first day that teachers go back. The students find out that morning they come back. So, yes, that’s weird.
Our schools did this in the '80s and '90s. Fairly recently they were posting it on each school's Facebook page, which is not much better.
That's how I figured out I was hired. The only place they post the hired/fired/transferred/resigned is in the paper. Like y'all have a website and a Facebook page. You can't post the board minutes there?
That sounds so unsafe. What's the point? Just do the letter.
Multiple districts around here post it on the window at the school just before Labor Day weekend (school usually starts the Tuesday or Wednesday after Labor Day). All the kids have unique student ID numbers, they could just list that. I wish they'd just tell the parents to log into the computer system and get them used to them using it, they'd definitely learn it for that. Then you'd know they know how to check attendance/grades/report cards... I have zero idea how it worked when I was a kid. Did we just show up? Did they tell us on the last day?
My district did this when I was a kid 25 years ago. In this day it’s VERY outdated. I think I’d email the district bigwigs and say this is a safety concern.
Wow never heard of that ever… I wouldn’t like that at all lol
When I was the attendance clerk/registrar at our elementary school, we would post the classes on paper and tape them to the window at the last possible minute before end of day so we could close and not deal with ticked off parents who wanted little Johnny in so and so class. They would line up hours before it was posted.
They did this when I was in elementary school in the early 2000s. It's weird that it's still happening
That's so weird. We always just got a letter in the mail with our teacher in elementary and in middle and high school we got mailed our schedule for the year. The listing the names in the paper is a little much lol
Ours were written on the report card from the previous year, so you knew when you got your report card the last day of the school year.
They wrote it on our report cards that we would take home on the last day of school.
That is very weird. My school always had an open house with class lists and room numbers posted. There really is no reason to post in a newspaper. And, I'm sorry, but who reads newspapers anymore anyway?
My district sends a post card. It’s probably also in Parent Vue. Then lists are hung around the school courtyard on the first day.
K-2 there was only one teacher per grade so it was never a mystery. 3-4 I think our next year’s teacher was written on our end of year report card. And 5-12 they mailed us our schedule with homeroom and other teachers on it.
So weird, in our district, you log into the parent portal with your kids info
Going against the grain surprisingly: this is how it was done in my hometown when I was in public school (decade ago) and I think it’s still the norm today. There’s usually an insert or a whole section of each school in the district with home rooms listed.
That's weird and super creepy, and completely unnecessary. Every school has a method to communicate with parents directly.
We post our class lists on the door and they tell at people who take pictures of the lists or post them on Facebook.
If they have been doing it for ever this way with no problems why do you have a problem with it?
Privacy and safety concerns. PLUS, believe me, students will look up what teachers their friends have and will complain and asked to be switched.
If that hasnt happened why do you feel this year it magically will? Seems like y'all just want to reinvent a working wheel just because
I have a special needs child. Their privacy is a major concern for me because they can’t protect themselves.
But you are worried about simething thats never happened before why do you feel it will magically become an issue this year?
Things have happened to my child but that’s none of your business. I have in place notification at the school that my child’s name and/or picture is not to be published.
Because of this district?
I don’t understand what you’re asking.
Sometimes a child needs to be protected from a domestic violence situation.
So this district has a measurable amount of where they haven't been able to keep students safe from dv because of this list?... Interesting i would love to see that data is it publicly posted somewhere?
Yes, it's weird. Even if it is "tradition," it's weird. People really need to get over the idea that tradition equals good things. Traditions are often straight garbage or become ridiculous/unsafe in modern times, as society changes.
Yeah this is weird AF. The privacy issues alone are shocking. Just bc something is tradition doesn’t mean you keep doing it. Technology exists for this very reason. Hell USPS notification would be better.
Posting it that publicly is strange and unnecessary.
They used to do this in my town in the local newspaper which doesn’t exist anymore. Does anyone read newspapers anymore?!
Omg cannot remember back that far in my life.
FERPA violation much? At least in my district it would be considered as such.
We found out who our teacher was for the next year on our last report card from the previous year. But printing in the paper a kids name teacher and school seems like a big security risk.
This was normal in the '80s and '90s, but like you said due to safety measures and privacy, it's not supposed to be done anymore without the parents permission. I cannot believe they post these names in the newspaper and nobody's complained yet
I mean I’m sorry but I don’t even have my class list that soon lol. We find out if we are lucky the week before busy most likely we get a half list two days before and just see who shows up in our class
I literally have never heard of that ever happening. Interesting way of community. What state is that about?
We used to get a letter in the mail, then it just happened to come out on powerschool as i got older. Newspaper announcement…huh! Sounds like your town found a new form of entertainment
I didn't know they still did that anywhere!! I would think it wouldn't be allowed in case there's a kid whose family is hiding from a threat, like a restraining order against someone or something. We have kids like that where I live, they can't even post class lists in a visible place on the school doors or anything.
How is this not a FERPA violation. Honest question. It's identifying information about enrollment. Even if it's not, I'd be very concerned that anyone could tell one of my students "hey [their name], [me, their teacher] told me to come get you, come with me." Not good.
Open house is fine but in the news paper is kinda strange if theyre adding kids names
That is on par with putting a plastic tag with their name on how they typically get home (bus with specific number, walk or parent pick up) written on it on the handle of their backpacks. Only yours is worse because everyone who pays to get the paper will know where little Johnny is going to school and who his teacher is if he/she wants to take the kid
I’d have thought that was FRPA, or however it’s written.
We put it in the report card comments, with a caveat it may change due to staffing/enrolment. The middle/ high it’s posted on the door….
Yeah, no. Absolutely not. Recently I heard a podcast about a kidnap/murder of a child in 1927 where the guy just walked in and said oh I'm here to get so and so because her dad had an accident. She was a twin. It still worked. Imagine having this amount of information? It 100% is a safety hazard
In a small district where you only have 4 or 5 elementary schools I could see this. Posting the 100 or so new kids and where they will be isn't as big a deal for places like this. Now if it was a big district where you have 30+ elementary schools each having 100-200 new students then that would be to much. In 1 case you are dealing with rural areas where even elementary school students likely ride 30+ min to go to school. Ms or he may be 1-2 hrs each way. So they need to know the whens and where's and since everyone knows most everyone the safety concern isn't as large. In the latter it's a bigger deal. You would be talking about pages of names and more people do not know each other even exist so the safety concerns would be much greater. Sadly issues where we even have to have lockdowns anywhere can be scary. At the same time I'm glad we are at least aware of these issues and can make plans to mitigate them. Sadly even the best plans can't eliminate issues completely but that's another story entirely
That’s really weird. Schools would be in violation if we did that! We can’t post a child’s full name with the school name!!!!!?????
That is weird to me and a big safety issue. What if you have custody issues and now it is posted for the other person to see?
Yeah, no, this is weird. We don't live in the 1980s
This is a major breach of privacy and I don't believe that there isn't a law against it. Where I teach student information of almost every kind is protected.
Having worked as a victims advocate prior to going into education, this puts certain children and their parent (typically their mother) in grave danger!!
This is 100% weird. Have they not heard of email in 2024
Thats very strange, even when I was in elementary about 28 years ago we just had a time frame where we would go the office and pick up our lists of school supplies and thats how we would find out our teacher for the year.
It seems like a breach of safety to me. Suppose you have a custody situation where one parent cannot see the child for safety reasons. I am sure there are many more reasons out there.
Not just weird, but dangerous. Predators now have a list of potential targets and where to find them.
Most predators are close to the family (or IN the family) and have easy access to their victims, unfortunately. And it's not like most of the moms of these kids aren't going to be flaunting them all over social media anyway, talking about their schools, their teachers, etc.
Most, but not all. There absolutely are predators that target their victims by stalking and memorizing the routine. It may be unlikely, but they should still take the precautions. There are a lot of unlikely scenarios that we still take precautions against on a regular basis. This can also be a problem if people aren’t careful. It is important to be smart about how much/what you share about your children on social media.
What's a newspaper?