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Manchester School Board To Clarify Privacy Policies After Email Controversy

Manchester School District

The Manchester School Board is considering clarifying its policies to prevent board members from using the school district listserv to contact students.

This comes after a controversy with school board member Richard Girard, who used the listserv to email a student who wrote an editorial for her high-school newspaper in support of the Manchester teachers’ union.

Girard is the chair of the contract negotiation team, which has been at an impasse with the teachers’ union since June.

Some have speculated that the email violated federal education privacy policies. An attorney representing the student has threatened legal action against Girard if he continues to discuss the student publicly.

Girard has defended himself, calling the controversy  “a political hit job.”

The Manchester School Board coordination committee will meet to refine its email and privacy policies in December.

Sarah Gibson joined NHPR's newsroom in 2018. She reports on education and demographics.
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