Posting class rosters: I'm concerned.

All About Nameberry
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Hello [name]Beloved[/name] Berries!

Let me start by saying I am not trying to start a fight, ruffle feathers, or hurt feelings. But I want to address a situation I’ve been seeing a lot of lately, especially with the start of the school year.

I’ve been noticing people posting class rosters (names of students in a particular class.) I believe some of the people posting are actual students in the class, and some might be parents. I don’t think I’ve seen one yet that an actual teacher posted.

Thank goodness I have not been seeing any last names on these, (as we are all mostly interested in the first names.) However, I’m still concerned. As a therapist who works with kids, I’ve gotten a double whammy of HIPAA compliance training, confidentiality agreements, etc, etc, etc in both the medical and educational settings I’ve worked in. I know that for me, posting a list of my students/patients on an online forum would be an ENORMOUS no-no, even if it is just first names. Our student information is fiercely protected; some places I’ve worked at have even created “codes” to use in lieu of names to protect patient privacy.

Part of the reason my information is strictly protected is because in the medical field, it has to be. I work in SPED in education, so that is another reason that student information is protected. Student information for regular education classrooms may not be as strictly protected, but I would still be very leery.

I’m just putting this out there. All it takes is the wrong person to view a thread and realize their child’s, grandchild’s, niece’s, etc name is on it. It’s very unlikely this would happen, but still… it’s a possibility. With all the crazy lawsuits we’ve been told about in my profession, I would never take a chance like that.

Now, posting a birth announcement you’ve found online or in a newspaper is completely different. This is obviously public knowledge. However, I would be very careful when posting classroom information. Is your location listed next to your name? That, in addition to a complete class roster, could be more than enough to implicate you in a lawsuit. (And believe me, I’ve heard of crazier lawsuits.) It’s one thing to post “guess what name I heard today.” It’s quite another to post a list of 25 kids who are all in the same class.

I’m very sorry if anyone is offended by this post. That is not my intention AT ALL. I just want to raise awareness of student/patient privacy concerns. I realize that a lot of people who use this forum are young and may not know about some of this stuff.

Also, and I don’t know for sure, but I would think that students posting other students’ names would be fine. It’s when someone in authority posts a whole class list where we run in to trouble.

Does anyone else have concerns about this issue? I’d love to hear your point of view in a (civil) discussion.

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I have issues with these threads too. I don’t think they’re made with the intention of hurting or upsetting anyone, but I think there’s a fine line of what’s okay to share on the internet and what isn’t.
I can only speak for myself but I personally would be angry if I found someone had posted my kids name on a message board, along with the names of all his/her classmates. I don’t think its acceptable because of privacy issues. Especially when middle names are mentioned too.

It makes the child more identifiable on the world wide web, and some parents don’t want any information about their kids on the internet.
By putting the names of kids on here its kind of taking that decision away from them as parents.
Again, I honestly don’t think anyone doing this is doing so with bad intentions. I totally get that they’re fun to read, to see what names are popular in the various areas populated by the NB community. But they make me feel a little uncomfortable too.

[name]Just[/name] sharing my thoughts, It isn’t my intention to upset or hurt any feelings so apologies if it comes across that way. [name]Just[/name] wanted to throw in my two cents :slight_smile:

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It’s not as unlikely as you might think. I’ve connected the dots to TWO posters on this site and realized I know them, peripherally, in real life. I even suspected one poster as being my sister-in-law for a little while.

Relatedly, I don’t like or participate in any of the “hey, post some stuff that might make you or the people you’re talking about traceable!” threads. This includes the recent one where they wanted to know your name, sibling names, age, etc. While there’s nothing wrong with online transparency and having your comments connected to the real you or those close to you, it’s not something that works for me due to my profession, so it’s constantly on my mind – and I’m always noticing others that don’t seem to realize how easy it is to connect those dots.

People should be more careful, and much more considerate, when it comes to these things. I understand, too, that many of these threads (the class rosters in particular) are mostly for the purpose of inspiration, but many don’t use them that way… and it could be potentially hurtful (on top of all the other privacy concerns that strawberry shortcake discussed).

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I TOTALLY agree. I’m in school for a [name]Bachelor[/name] of Education and in our practicum class we aren’t even allowed to say the name of our placement school, the name of our associate teacher, or any of the names of our students. And this is in CLASS about practicum. [name]Even[/name] talking with my peers about placement, we don’t ever, ever use names.
The fact that these lists are going up online freaks me out. I understand that a lot of parents and fellow classmates don’t think bout the repercussions but this could be really damaging for some people if there are people connecting the dots about who’s being mentioned. Certain kids aren’t even allowed to have their names in school newsletters because of custody and privacy issues. Posting them online for people to see is really not a good idea and I’m sure not all parents would consent to having their kids’ names posted online.

I sincerely don’t think anyone on this, or any other name forum, means any harm, but I don’t think entire class rosters should be allowed.

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I am in agreement.

There was a thread when I first joined, posting about the “cool kids” in your year at school, and I’m still at school. Now I posted the names in my school, because the “cool kids” in my grade mainly all have quite generic names, seen in pretty much any grade, in any school. However, I specifically didn’t include the two distinctive names, because if I had it could well have done identified my school (and I don’t want that, for my own safety if nothing else).

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I posted a thread like this, and if it bothers anyone, I can take it down. The kids in my class have very common names, but I get what your trying to say. I did not give out any lastnames or middle names.

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I have actually never thought about it, but what you all are saying makes sense. I tried to picture how I would feel if my child (no children yet) showed up on a list with all her/his classmates. [name]Even[/name] if it were just first names, I might be uncomfortable. I agree with tintri that saying “Hey, I am in class with a [name]Cornelia[/name]? [name]How[/name] cool is that?” and posting a complete list is a lot different. It’s something to think about, so thank you for bringing it up.

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Agree. I would feel awful if I saw my childs name on a thread along with others from their class so I knew the poster was actually talking about my actual child individually. I don’t mind positive one off names like r_j said but not whole class lists.

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I could not agree more! tintri - thanks for bringing this up - I also work with children and their families and we take privacy and confidentiality very seriously. Over and over again, I am reminded of how small this world actually is.

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Thanks for all of your comments. I’m not a parent yet, but I have no doubt that when I become one, I will NOT want my child’s name plastered online by some random person when it could be easily connected to other names in his/her class.

I agree with a pp’s statement that this takes away a parent’s right to choose who they want to share their child’s information with.

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I would never post and entire list, I try to be pretty vague. It would totally weird me out to see my sons name on a list with his classmates randomly on the internet. I don’t think picking out a few select interesting names is so bad, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable posting an entire list.

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Totally Agreed.

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I’m not really sure what the problem here is. I’m not American (perhaps that’s it) and at my school (bachelor of education) we were never that secretive about kids names so… What are you all afraid will happen??? It’s not like full names + addresses are posted in this forum…

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I am a childrens therapist in [name]Alabama[/name] who is in the schools everyday of the week. Teachers post entire class rosters outside their door, first and last names. Also, schools post teacher assignments outside the school with first and last names where literally anyone could drive up and read the names. The schools themselves are not really protecting the kids names. I personally would never reveal a clients name, but I am not sure if I can fault parents and others for sharing when it seems the schools are treating names as public knowlege similar to newspaper announcements.

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I’m sorry, I just think that posting a class roster outside your classroom door or elsewhere in the school is VERY different from posting it on the internet. Posting something next to a classroom door is not public knowledge. Generally speaking, the “public” is not allowed into the school to view class rosters and learn student names. Only parents, staff, and students are. [name]Even[/name] parents must sign in at the office and wear badges!

I would never risk my job to post a class roster on the internet. I would also never disregard another parent’s right to choose whether or not they want their child’s name posted on an internet forum.

That’s just me. Obviously, not everyone agrees. But I have a feeling that most administrators would have a heart attack if they found out a member of their staff was posting entire class rosters on a random internet forum… even just first names. And there are definitely parents out there who would have a huge problem knowing their own child’s name (first and middle, many times) were being posted on an internet forum.

[name]Just[/name] my two cents.

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I know what you mean and agree. I’ve commented on threads regarding “friends children’s names” but tend to try to alter them in some way,just in case. I’m very aware it could be seen and someone could be offended.
Especially since my handle on here doesn’t exactly hide my identity…or does it?”

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Im in agreement with everything you said. I am one who would take it to the next level if I saw my child’s class list posted on the internet. I would turn it over to the school and would kick up a big stink about violation of privacy and together with the school I would try my darnest to find out which parent it was that violated all of the children’s privacy and then ALL of the parents would find out about that particular parent. I dont think any school would approve of a parent posting class lists. And really what is the point? If we want to know which names are popular go to the ss website and get exact numbers. I’m actually suprised that [name]Pam[/name] and [name]Linda[/name] allow this kind of thing on here, as its an invitation for a violation of privacy lawsuit, not only against the parent, but also the website who is enabling the information to be carried out, imagine if a school board (who have serious legal resources at their fingertips) banned together with parents and sued the website and parent who posted a class list.

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Honestly, I can’t imagine posting a list that would be interesting enough to consider.

I work with kids but there are so many [name]Sophia[/name]'s and [name]Emma[/name]'s and [name]Jacob[/name]'s that it would be extremely boring reading, lol

I have been concerned before when posting the names of friends children who have used very strange names. But I don’t have my location listed and it’s one name in a sea of internet. I agree that anyone in charge of children should be leery about posting full lists especially containing very unique names and locations.

Really, in the era of identity theft I’m surprised so many people are so wild about having a unique name. It would seem like a built in safety feature to have a common name :slight_smile:

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I’m in agreement with everything you have said Tintri.

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I still don’t understand what the problem is. Could someone please explain. What is the problem in posting a list of first names on a forum?

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