Consents
a) For Students
Prior to undertaking any videotaping which could involve students, ETFO members would need written
permission from parents and their school board. With respect to parents, that permission must take the
form of a consent form.
Parents must also receive notice that personal information about a student has been collected. The notice
must set out the purposes of the collection, contact details for someone who can answer questions about
the collection, and the legal authority for the collection.
b) For Teachers and Others
If teachers are videotaping other teachers, EAs, DECEs, or others, for whatever reason, they must ensure
that the individual captured on video also signs a consent form. The consent form should include the
express permission of the person being videotaped, restrictions on the uses to which the video will be
put, and information concerning how the videotape will be either stored and/or destroyed.
Video Storage
MFIPPA does not contain detailed language on the storage of personal information. However, MFIPPA
requires that school boards document and implement “reasonable measures to prevent unauthorized
access” to records containing personal information. Given this requirement, school boards should have
policies in place about the storage of personal information, and school staff should familiarize themselves
with these policies or, with the assistance of ETFO, request training on storage.
Storing video on a home computer, keeping the copy on a zip drive in your briefcase or at home, or
e-mailing it home to yourself to review may be inconsistent with board policies.
It should be noted that the disclosure rules under MFIPPA do not allow for disclosure through inadvertence
or error. Education staff should consider how videos that are in their possession at schools are stored: are
they accessible to other teachers or students in the classroom? Can other staff or visitors to the school
access them? If staff are unsure, they should seek direction from their school administrator.
If staff thinks that the school board has not implemented secure storage systems for personal information
at school, this could be raised through ETFO.
Liability
Under MFIPPA anyone who “wilfully” discloses personal information in contravention of the statute
is guilty of an offence, and may have to pay a fine of up to $5,000. These provisions apply not just to
school boards, but also to education staff. This means that education staff must be diligent in working to
understand what MFIPPA requires of them as they carry out their professional duties.
In addition, and as noted above, the disclosure rules under both statutes do not allow for disclosure
through inadvertence or error.
College of Teachers / College of Early Childhood Educators
In addition to raising a number of privacy concerns, videotaping a classroom and capturing images or
other information, even inadvertently, could be considered professional misconduct by both the OCT
and the CECE. Both Regulation 437/97 of the Ontario College of Teachers Act and Regulation 233/08 of the
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