T. Rees Shapiro reports:
A laptop containing health records for 2,000 Fairfax County public school students was stolen out of a health department employee’s car, possibly compromising the confidential information, school and health officials said.
In a letter to families, school officials said that the laptop was stolen on July 15, when someone broke into a school nurse’s car. Along with the health-
department-issued laptop, a briefcase containing paper student records also was stolen, officials said.
Read more on Washington Post.
So apparently the school nurse did not follow protocol, and that needs to be addressed, but this has to be the stupidest quote of the day:
“We are going above and beyond to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Barbour said.
Above and beyond what? Doing what you are supposed to do is not going above and beyond.
And no, these records are not protected by HIPAA. School health records are treated as education records under FERPA.