When the South East Cornerstone Public School Division refused to comply with a request from the acting provincial auditor to provide access to student files earlier this year, it eventually led to an exchange of words and memos that has placed the two organizations at loggerheads, at least temporarily.
As of June 5, the two sides had not reached an agreement regarding the access to information being requested by the provincial auditor's office, but the doors of compromise were, perhaps, opening.
The original request to view confidential files to extract specific information required by the auditor, was discussed at the Cornerstone trustee's meeting on April 17, which led to a unanimous vote to deny access, which was reported in the April 23 edition of the Mercury. The main concern expressed by trustees at the time focused on certain confidential information regarding students and student behaviours that could be compromised.
The board let it be known at that time they had received additional legal opinions regarding the acting auditor's request and had forwarded their concerns to the provincial privacy commissioner.
"We had a visit with the auditor's representative, and we differed with them. I understand they have other measures they can refer to, to get the information they probably need," said Cornerstone board chairman Harold Laich during the April 17 meeting.
Judy Ferguson, the province's acting provincial auditor, when contacted by the Mercury on June 5, said she was "puzzled" by the Cornerstone board's decision that resulted in the standoff. She added the office she served hadn't had liability factors raised before since the act that pertains to her office provides "protection for both parties."
When asked what the consequences would be if Cornerstone continued to refuse access to a sampling of student files, Ferguson said the current situation was rare, and while she found the reaction from the school division "kind of surprising," she wasn't going to engage in pursuing a punishment route.
"Part of our job is to look and see if an organization is carrying out their mandate," she said, noting there wasn't anything in the auditor's act to leverage penalties.
"We do what we do and let people know where we are at. But, we do have authority to look at their information. We have gotten external legal advice and it's important to note the ministry (education) is supportive of our asking Cornerstone to comply, and we are most respectful of confidentiality and we are only requesting a sample of files, not hundreds of files as they have suggested," she explained, referring to an earlier exchange that led to the prospect of Cornerstone releasing some student files with certain names blacked out or specific information not related to the audit, redacted.
Laich said if that request led to the need to sort through hundreds of files to remove or black out names, the task would be too onerous and time consuming.
Ferguson said access to the files was requested by her office to see if Cornerstone was complying with such things as attendance record keeping, and their handling of behaviour issues, as an example.
"We'll circle back to them. It's new territory for them and this could just be a misunderstanding of our purpose. We want to ensure their division's transparency and ensure they are doing things wisely because it's public money that's involved," said Ferguson.
For his part, Laich said on June 5 he and other board members had talked with the minister's representatives on June 2, and will try to accommodate the request, but first they have to receive some assurances that files would not be compromised. He said he wasn't sure whether the auditor's office would be requesting an electronic transfer of information or would be seeking paper copies.
Laich added the response from the privacy commissioner's office was "not definitive, but we do have obligations. At the same time, we don't know what this sampling is that the auditor is talking about. We don't know the numbers, there is no indication of the numbers yet, so we'll be working through that.
"I don't know what would happen if we didn't respond to their request. We're not at that stage. We're trying to work through this. I don't know, would they get a warrant? If we can get some assurances there is no legal liability for Cornerstone, we might be able to work this out."
Under the Provincial Auditor's Act, the auditor's office is entitled to have access to all information relevant and necessary to do its work, recognizing that at times, information it needs may be confidential or sensitive in nature, and includes protections to maintain the confidentiality of such information. The office uses additional safeguards to protect privacy; for example, ensuring sensitive personal information is not included in its files. Ferguson said she explained to Cornerstone that her office is not interested in private and personal student information, and could do an audit without seeing student names or detailed content, but still needed to see files to review evidence regarding the school division's processes and whether they were being followed.
During the April 17 meeting, several trustees, including Estevan's representative Pam Currie, spoke out in support of the refusal to comply, stating that the members didn't want to violate their due process plan.
Another trustee, Carol Flynn noted that "it's not about not wanting to co-operate, it's about privacy and liability. There are other ways for them (auditors) to learn what they need to learn."
As of June 9 there was no indication that the two sides had yet reached an agreement.
