Work thrown down the drain
By ronaldinu
@ronaldinu (12422)
Malta
December 3, 2008 10:12am CST
One of my colleagues worked hard during the summer holidays on a voluntary basis to put up a CD magazine for our school. It included our student's photos and other scholastic activities done through out the year. Our head decided to stop the CD from being distributed. He is afraid of the Data Protection Act, where students' photographs cannot be displayed without their parents consent. I really felt pity for my colleagues' work that was literally thrown down the drain. Unfortunately I cannot rephrase here my colleague's words when he learned that the CD was not going to be distributed. But you can imagine what his reaction was.
© ronaldinu 2008
2 people like this
10 responses
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
19 Jan 09
I see no difference in distributing the CD then a year book. I think it would be cool and also it can't be that hard to get kids parents to consent. Maybe they should make a Yearbook CD since so many kids would like that better now then a book anyhow.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
8 Dec 08
All the head would have to do was get consent from the parents, why throw away all that hard work?! And if the parents didn't consent, all your colleague would have to do is delete the picture and text off the disc. I really don't understand people sometimes, they seem to want to make problems instead of offer solutions. 
@kun2349 (23381)
• Singapore
4 Dec 08
That's sad.. ANd his hard work is really wasted.. But still, the photos can be used for other purposes.. But i dun understand why the school needs parents consent to use their photos?? It isn't something disgraceful, plus it's scholastic activites, and that parents will be proud of it.. SO what's stopping the school??
All the school needs to do is to ask for permission, and so his work wont be wasted at all.
@yuna15 (2706)
• Philippines
5 Dec 08
Why wasn't he informed by the head about the Data Protection Act before he started working on it or while he was working on it? I don't understand. Why didn't they seek the parents consent beforehand? Sorry I have more questions. But I could imagine how upset he is for what happened. Err, Upset is an understatement, he is probably furious about it. Knowing that he wasn't informed about the Data Protection Act. Tsk tsk...
@Humbug25 (12540)
•
4 Dec 08
Hi there ronaldinu
I can really understand yours and your college frustrations but as a parent in my situation I would have been absolutely furious if pictures of my kids had been made public prior to my permission. What the head should have done is either told your college not to include the photos (which wouldn't have been half as interesting) or got a letter sent out to all the parents asking for permission and for those who declined your colleague could then have just omitted pictures with those students in it!
@littleowl (7157)
•
3 Dec 08
That is such a shame I can imagine your friends disappointment, it must of been awful for him after so much hard work...littleowl
@p1kef1sh (45681)
•
3 Dec 08
I can think of a couple of ways to get consent. The most obvious, but It may take a while,is to send a letter out to parents asking them to sign? The DPA is about using commonsense - I was a data controller for my last organisation and I have to say that there's an awful lot of ill-informed hysteria out there about it. I have to say I am unimpressed by your Head if he couldn't manage a way to arrange consent and let the CD be circulated. Unless of course he didn't WANT the CD to go out for other reasons.
@guybrush (4658)
• Australia
3 Dec 08
That would be heartbreaking! So much work - your colleague must be devastated, and the students would be very disappointed they won't be able to have their CDs. What a shame the school can't send a notice to all the parents for them to sign, giving permission. It would solve the problem, and I'm sure all the parents would love to see their children on the CD anyway.
@tamarafireheart (15384)
•
3 Dec 08
Hi ronaldinu,
I am so sorry for your colleague, but I think all this Data Protection act has all gone mad, can't they not do the CD without the child's picture on it?
Tamara
