When Hamilton County Schools informed the families of 45,000 Hamilton County Schools students that their contact information was requested by a private citizen and would be released this week because the law requires it, there was something the district didn’t mention.
Parents could opt out.
Social media lit up Thursday night after parents were informed that a representative from the group Friends of Hamilton had requested parent names, street addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, grade level of children and school of enrollment for all of the county’s public schoolchildren. Following heavy backlash from parents, the group rescinded its information request.
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Despite the angry responses from many, Deborah Fisher, executive director of Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, told the Times Free Press that the release of the information, called “school directory information,” is common.