OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Oshkosh Area School District is investigating how confidential documents ended up in a dumpster outside of Smith Elementary School.
Anastahja Goodnature’s son used to attend the school and said she found out about documents by social media.
“Someone tagged me in the Facebook post where there was a group and pictures of all these children’s sensitive information with the names covered up,” said Anastahja Goodnature.
She described photos of the documents she saw online.
“Enrollment forms, there were medication bottles. There’s paperwork with one of the disciplinary actions and notes that a teacher had made about a student regarding some issues that they were having in the classroom, including their first name,” she said.
The district found out about the documents Saturday night.
“We’ve secured the records, that much we’re aware of,” said Oshkosh Area School District’s Deputy Superintendent David Gundlach.
Gundlach went on to say a parent told the district about the thrown away documents and even showed them to school officials.
“Typically they would be shredded but for some reason, and we’ve instituted an investigation to find out how and why that would’ve happened. Obviously, that would’ve been against our data integrity protocol and right now we’re investigating the matter to find out how did they get in there because obviously, that’s not what we’d be doing,” Gundlach said.
He adds, the district is reviewing surveillance video.
“We’ve been able to put through those security cameras and you can never be 100% certain but we’re fairly certain that we have everything in our possession,” he said.
That answer doesn’t sit well with Goodnature.
“Nobody’s going to know for sure. What was all returned, what wasn’t or if anybody else had gotten to the dumpster before anyone was there taking photos,” she said.
When asked how to prevent a similar situation from happening again Gundlach says human error is to blame.
“You follow the existing district protocols because the protocols that are in place would’ve prevented this from happening,” Gundlach said.
As for the individual or individuals responsible for throwing away the documents, Gundlach says once the district’s investigation is complete it will be handled by human resources.
Oshkosh police officer Kate Mann says a complaint was filed Saturday and said nothing criminal has resulted from the incident.”
