NJ district mistakingly posts names of students who opted out of sex ed

☑️ A parent said he found a list while making an OPRA request

☑️ The district was notified but did nothing for two months, according to the parent

☑️ U.S. Dept. of Education is investigating the matter, according to the parent

CHERRY HILL — The U.S. Department of Education is investigating a South Jersey school district after it admitted to mistakingly posting online the names of students whose parents opted them out of sex education classes.

Parent Harvey Vazquez told the board at its Oct. 29 meeting that he discovered the names of 83 students, including his son, who attended the Thomas Paine, Bret Harte, Richard Stockton, and A. Russell Knight elementary schools during the 2022-23 school year had been released in an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request made to the New Jersey Public Education Coalition.

The former board of education candidate accused the coalition of making the request as part of its agenda against "right wing extremism."

Vasquez said the district was informed about the exposure on Sept. 1 and did not respond. Vasquez said he threatened to contact the affected parents himself about his discovery. Vasquez said he was concerned about a potential class action lawsuit against the district.

"Additionally, I expect disciplinary measures to be enforced against those responsible for this breach," Vazquez said during the board meeting, adding that he also wanted an apology.

The board did not comment about the exposure during the meeting.

ALSO READ: Rep. Mikie Sherrill becomes 6th Democrat in 2025 governor race

Superintendent explains what happened

Superintendent Kwame Morton addressed the problem during the board's Nov 12. meeting. He acknowledged the names appeared on a search made through the OPRA request website, OPRAmachine.com. The site facilitates OPRA requests and posts them on its website.

"When the information was provided to them a few weeks later the information was redacted, but it was redacted in PDF format. We later learned that that redaction in PDF format was able to be undone or to be viewed in HTML format. A request was made by the district to have that information taken down and replaced," Morton said. "Last meeting we learned that was not the case."

Morton said the district worked with OPRAmachine to remove the HTML document. It was removed on Nov. 4, according to Morton.

Morton said the parents of the 82 children found by Vasquez were notified by the district via a letter once the document was removed. Another 92 families who opted out were also notified as it wasn't known if the names of their children had also appeared.

The letter did not include an apology or an explanation about how the mistake was made.

Vasquez told NJ.com the U.S. Department of Education acknowledged his request for them to investigate. The investigation will take three months to complete.

Report a correction 👈 | 👉 Contact our newsroom