Board Procedure NP#656.0 Ontario Student Record (OSR) Management

The procedure outlines requirements for appropriately managing OSRs, in addition to what is prescribed in the Education Act, the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) and the Ontario Student Record (OSR) Guideline, 2000, Ministry of Education. Managing OSRs improves services to students and their families; ensures consistent statutory and regulatory compliance; reduces legal liabilities; provides administrative efficiencies; and increases information privacy and security by reducing the risk of loss, inappropriate access and wrongful destruction.

 

1. Definition

 

1.1 Ontario Student Record (OSR)

The OSR is a record of a student’s educational progress; one being established for every student who enrolls in a school operated by a school board or by the Ministry of Education. OSRs acquired from other school boards or generated by the York Region District School Board are the property of the York Region District School Board.

 

2. Responsibilities

 

2.1 Recorded Information Management Services (RiMS) shall:

1. centrally store retired OSRs;

2. shred secondary students’ OSR content;

3. return a student’s OSR to the school should a student be reactivated;

4. train staff and assist schools; and

5. shred OSRs upon completion of retention period.

 

2.2 Information Technology Services shall:

1. store student data electronically.

 

2.3 Principals shall:

1. establish and enforce processes in the school that ensure OSRs are managed as follows;

   • create, maintain, retain, transfer and dispose of the OSR in accordance with the Education Act; the OSR Guideline, this procedure and the OSR Components Matrix;

2. delegate OSR management responsibilities to vice-principals, classroom teachers, guidance personnel, and in-school secretarial staff as required;

3. oversee the access of OSRs by;

   • ensuring that the Consent to Access the Ontario Student Record (OSR) form and the Consent to Exchange Personal Student Information form are completed as required,

   • ensuring that clerical functions are performed by casual clerical help and adult co-op students only under supervision,

   • providing staff within Information Asset Services (RiMS, Central Transcript Services and Access & Privacy), with OSR access due to responsibilities related to information management,

   • ensuring that volunteers, school assistants, school council members, co-op students and students do not access OSRs except for their own or their own children’s OSRs,

   • ensuring that those listed in the OSR Access Guide for Administrators have their use and access rights respected,

   • deferring to the Office of the Chief Psychologist for instruction regarding access to psychological reports,

   • supervising the examination of the OSR by non-Board persons such as parents, and

     • filing a notation of any copies taken of OSR content; and

     • attaching a statement of disagreement to any record that a student or parent wishes removed but is not;

   • contacting their S.O. and/or the Assistant Manager Records Management/MFIPPA when served with a search warrant or a court subpoena, prior to complying;

4. inform students and parents of a minor (under age 18) at the time of enrolment (registration/ transfer) of the purpose and content of the OSR and annually in the first school newsletter about access to the OSR as follows;

   The Ontario Student Record (OSR) is the ongoing, confidential record of a student’s educational progress through schools in Ontario (excluding post-secondary school). The collection of this information is authorized by the Education Act. A student’s OSR is filed in the office at the student’s school. If a student transfers to another school in Ontario, his or her OSR folder and specific contents are transferred to the new school. The parents of students under 18 years of age and all students have the right of access to the OSR. Please contact your school main office to make an appointment.

5. decide to accept a name other than the legal name in accordance with the OSR Guideline, section 10, Change of Surname; and ensure that, if a legal name is changed, all occurrences are changed including electronic files;

6. verify each student’s date of birth and legal name by viewing the appropriate identity document and confirming the verification by initialing the OSR folder;

7. ensure that when a student is attending more than one school simultaneously for the purposes of program, only one OSR is issued and maintained at the home school;

8. oversee the review of OSR content in accordance with the OSR Components Matrix;

   • for all new student admissions or transfers to the school,

   • for each student twice annually (preferably at the beginning and end of the school year),

   • upon transfer to another York Region school,

   • between Grades 8 and 9 including,

     • hand-delivery of the culled OSR by the elementary principal or their designate to the appropriate secondary school annually by September startup; and

     • return of OSRs to the elementary school by the secondary principal for students who do not begin classes in the prescribed secondary school by Friday of the first week of school to ensure correct updating of the Office Index Card with information concerning the present school of attendance;

   • upon retirement from a York Region school,

   • upon request of the student and parent if the student is under age 18,

   • at the end of Grade 3,

   • at the end of Grade 6, and

   • at the end of Grade 10;

9. oversee the transfer of OSRs;

   • between York Region schools,

     • using the Board’s courier service;

     • ensuring couriers deliver only to the main office;

     • affixing an OSR transfer label to each mailing envelope or box used to transfer OSRs (form NP656-02); and

     • by not transferring an OSR unless a written request from the receiving school is received;

   • out of York Region District School Board, but in Ontario,

     • by using a commercial courier service;

     • using the commercial courier waybill in order to track the OSR and retain for a minimum of one year; and

     • ensuring couriers deliver only to the main office;

   • out of Ontario,

     • mailing copies of the OSR only and not original OSRs outside of Ontario;

   • to a private school, both inspected and registered but not yet inspected with the Ministry of Education, or a federal or a First Nation school in Ontario ensuring you have received written requests from both the receiving school and the parents, and

   • transfer OSR content in accordance with the OSR Components Matrix;

10. not transfer an OSR by fax;

11. retain OSR transfer requests for a minimum of one year;

12. transmit information electronically only provided that security and confidentiality can be maintained;

13. return a transferred OSR back to the last school attended when the student does not arrive as expected; and

14. oversee the response to a lost or misplaced OSR by;

    • thoroughly checking to determine if the OSR is missing or completely gone,

    • checking tracking documentation, other schools, courier staff, and

    • re-creating a lost OSR by,

      • noting on the folder that it is a replacement for a lost OSR (provide date);

      • checking the office index card for student demographic information and completing succession of schools attended;

      • contacting Information Technology Services for duplicates of student data;

      • contacting the Community Education Centre for special education and suspension/expulsion data; and

      • contacting the Office of the Chief Psychologist for psychological assessment data.

 

2.3 Elementary Homeroom Teachers shall:

1. update and review OSRs in June and September annually; and

2. communicate information about students with special needs, and/or concerns about information included in the OSR to the principal following each review.

 

2.4 Designated Secondary Teachers shall:

1. update and review OSRs in June and September annually; and

2. communicate information about students with special needs, and/or concerns about information included in the OSR to the principal following each review.

 

2.5 School Staff shall:

1. understand that no staff can claim ownership of student information or any other information generated or acquired in the course of their employment nor can s/he make sole decisions regarding access, use, disclosure or destruction contrary to this procedure and Ministry Guideline;

2. secure OSRs by;

   • keeping them in locked cabinets, rooms or offices,

   • securing computers when not in use,

   • using a sign-out procedure to ensure OSRs or portions of OSRs are not removed from Board property even temporarily,

   • ensuring OSRs are returned to the regular storage area by the end of each school day,

   • ensuring security of an OSR if it must be retained overnight, and

   • ensuring that electronic versions are subject to the same level of security and access requirements as paper OSRs;

3. store elementary school OSRs by;

   • retaining retired OSRs in the school for five years, and

   • transferring the whole OSR to Recorded Information Management Services (RiMS); and

4. store and dispose of secondary school OSRs by;

   • retaining retired OSRs in the school for five years at which point the final cull occurs,

   • deleting electronic versions when the paper documents are culled from the file,

   • transferring culled OSR content to RiMS for shredding under Principal signature, and

   • transferring the culled OSR to RiMS for storage under Principal signature.

 

3. Department

Business Services, Information Asset Services

 

4. Procedure History

Approved April 14, 2004 (Replaced memo S70 Ontario Student Record (OSR) Guideline Procedure, March 16, 1995)

Revised 2009

 

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It is the expectation of the York Region District School Board that all employees, students and persons invited to or visiting Board property, or partaking/volunteering in Board or school-sponsored events and activities, will respect the policies and procedures of the Board.

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