The Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario received two related complaints under the
Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act). The complainants are the same in both cases and are parents whose son had been a student with the Toronto District School Board (the TDSB).
After their son had ceased as a student with the TDSB, the complainants applied to enrol their son in a school within the Toronto Catholic District School Board (the TCDSB). While the request for admission was being considered, the receiving school’s Vice-Principal contacted his counterpart at the son’s former school to obtain information in order to verify the son’s academic status and to assess whether the receiving school could meet his program needs. This contact was made by telephone.
The bases for the complaints are that a) the TCDSB should not have sought information about the son from the TDSB without the written consent of the parents and b) the TDSB should not have provided information about the son to the TCDSB without the parents’ written consent. The complainants maintain that these actions were contrary to the privacy provisions of the
Act.