School District ‘Unintentionally’ Sends Employee Social Security Numbers To Reporter

The Bristol Township School District sent employee Social Security numbers to a newspaper reporter this week.

In a letter sent to school district staff Wednesday, administration advised them that Social Security numbers for all employees were released to a reporter at the Gatehouse Media-owned Bucks County Courier Times. The newspaper and school district both confirmed in the sensitive information was deleted.

“The District unintentionally sent a document to the reporter that contained employee confidential personal information, specifically, employee Social Security numbers. The District realized this inadvertent error a few minutes after sending this information, and immediately contacted the Courier Times,” the email to district staff said.

The newspaper said they sent requests for employee information to 16 school districts in Bucks and Montgomery counties and Bristol Township was the only one to send Social Security numbers.

In their email, the district said they received a Right-to-Know request in mid-June for employee names, employee gross wages, and employee job titles. Some employees objected to the disclosure of the information and responded to the Right-To-Know request with redacted information. The newspaper appealed the redactions with the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, and the district was attempting to settle the appeal by the release. However, the wrong document was sent to the newspaper.

“The District has since provided correct and complete information responsive to the request to the Courier Times,” the letter stated.