Can students’ PAA results be posted in the hallway or classroom?
• In Investigation Report F2002-IR-001, a school board’s practice of posting Provincial achievement assessment (PAA) test results as part of its “Salute to Excellence” program was reviewed. The school board submitted that the practice of posting test results was authorized by section 40(1)(b), which permits disclosure of personal information if the disclosure would not be an unreasonable invasion of privacy under section 17, and cited section 17(2)(j) as applying to the information. The investigator found that the school board had breached the student’s privacy. In order for a disclosure not to be unreasonable invasion of a third party’s personal privacy under section 17(2)(j), the disclosure must be in the public interest, the information being disclosed must fit within the types of information enumerated in this section, and the individual the information is about must not have objected to the disclosure. The complainant submitted that he was never asked about his wishes.
