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BB NEWS Mathew McCarthy photo It took The Record four years to obtain wellbeng survey results from the Waterloo Region District School Board. BOARD REFUSED TO RELEASE SCHOOL-BY-SCHOOL SURVEY RESULTS JEFF OUTHIT jouthit@therecord.com Four years ago after the Waterloo Region District School Board surveyed students on their well-be- ing, it refused to say how well-being varies between schools. The Waterloo Region Record used Freedom of In- formation legislation to ob- tain school-by-school re- sults, i that infor- mation on the overall men- tal and physical health of students is public informa- tion as long as no student is identified. Provincial adjudicator Stella Ball agreed. She or- dered the board to release d. tu. dents and aggregated so that it does not identify any specific student.” ie Record asked for survey results in February 2019 and received them four years later in March 2023. The board charged the newspaper $471 to pro- vide them. The Record argued pai ents deserve to know the level of well-being at their child's school to hold edu- cators | accountable to im- were never intended to be released on a school-by- school basis for use by the local media to rank schools being.” ish Columbia, which li- censes the survey tool, warned that releasing in- formation would prompt researchers to stop con- ducting well-being sur- veys. “This is an incalculable loss with respect to school program planning and evaluation, " UBC told Ball. “These data are collected in confidence; from di: closure Hes | in nereased creased mental health “Ot students in their concern potential school shame." UBC professor Eva Oberle later explained that telling parents that some schools have higher well- being "could further moti- vate families who have the move their S laren to Coens schools in the district, leading to growing inequi- ties between schools." Balldidnot base her ru ing on how survey are to be used. She oeused on the school board's con- tention that survey results are a trade secret with commercial and scientific value that do not need to be released under Freedom of Information legislation. "I do not accept that the wrote. gh rejected the board's as- sertion that survey find- ings contain scientific in- formatio: Rather, "the students "provided respons- es about themselves that the (school board) then ag- survey results are not atrade secret ‘and do not vi- olate privacy, Ball found no lawful reason to keep them secret. UBC would not say if it will cancel well-being sur- a ;C made its position clear" in arguing to keep information secret and “the university has no further comment." eueece tL =i ictc] 4-4) BUY IT TODAY...TAKE IT TODAY! RCE FLOGRIMG ON THE =] Rel ed ¢ CLICK VINYL $499 ¢ 1362 VICTORIA STREET NO KITCHENER * 9A M MONDAY - FRIDAY 9A™-6?™M SATURDAY SUNDAY |0AM-5PM €20Z ‘pl Jequieydag ‘Aepsiny | ef1uoryD OOpeyM | S o'9]9|UOIYDOOLIE}2M