District 214 to discuss policy on releasing alumni names

Northwest Suburban High School District 214 is reviewing its policy on releasing personal information of graduates.

The current policy states that the district will not sell or market students' personal information, but a board member said at Thursday night's board meeting that alumni should be included in that category.

"For our schools to receive a monetary benefit by releasing the names of graduates - it doesn't seem like the right thing to do," said board member Leslie Pinney, "especially when we're in an age when privacy is of higher concern than it's ever been."

The district does not sell information of current students, said Superintendent David Schuler. Upon graduation, though, the district may release names and addresses to a company for the purpose of making an alumni directory. Schuler did not know the name of the company or where it is based.

The company sends post cards to alumni asking if they would like to participate in the directory and which of their information, such as name, address and e-mail address, they'd like included, Schuler said. Alumni can pay the company around $10-$15 for a copy of the directory. Each high school gets its own directory and decides how often the book is released.

"It gives a heads-up on where graduates are at," Schuler said. "You can lose touch with your classmates over time."

The company pays a small fee to the district for providing graduates' addresses, which is the only information the schools give out, Schuler said.

"The company can use the addresses for the purpose of soliciting information for the alumni directory only," Schuler said. "It would be a breach of contract to sell the addresses elsewhere."

But Pinney said this still makes her feel "uneasy."

"You don't know what the company is going to do with the information," she said. "You're trusting that they're not going to use that information for any other purpose, but you honestly don't know."

Pinney said she hopes the district adopts a policy that it won't sell graduates' names and addresses. This would make the alumni directory difficult, if not impossible, to produce, but Pinney said the directory is not necessary.

"In this day and age, it almost seems like (a directory) is pretty archaic anyway," she said. "People aren't going to buy a book if they can just go online and find their friends."

The district also uses alumni information when compiling data for graduate surveys that follow up on students' achievements and thoughts after high school, Schuler said. The schools do not sell names for the surveys, but they might contract with a company to help conduct them.

Alumni can contact the school district to have their names taken off alumni lists.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the district is required to release names and addresses of current students to the military unless parents opt out, Schuler said. He said he has never heard of the military requesting alumni information.