There are few invasions of personal privacy more horrifying than the release of personal credit information. In their seemingly unbridled capacity for sheer incompetence, coupled with a blatant display of thorough contempt of the ordinary citizen, the Federal Department of Education effectively said to the State of Rhode Island: “Hold My Beer”. The confidential records of a 3-year administrative battle between Pawtucket parent David Fargnoli, and the tag team of the Rhode Island Department of Education & the Pawtucket School Department over a child’s educational rights were released via a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request to an unknown individual, individuals, or even worse, a Government Agency.
And incredibly? The Federal Department of Education is more concerned with protecting the privacy of the individual(s) who made the illicit request.
Statement by David C Fargnoli
This statement is in reference to my families past litigation/hearings/complaints against the PSD and RIDE, made to the United States Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. These complaints were regarding educational and special needs violations to my son and my daughter while they were enrolled in the PSD.
Now, years later, in April of 2024, my family has been forced to relive the nightmare, which took place between the years of 2019 through 2022. We are reliving them now due to the Department of Educations (OCR) office stating in an email that they inadvertently released my families’ complaint records, documentation and personal enclosed information within my families OCR Complaints. These OCR complaints were made against not only the PSD, for the above-mentioned violations, but also the Rhode Island Department of Education, over allegations, of maliciously stalling the PSD/RIDE hearing processes.
Dear David Fargnoli:
The U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), is writing to inform you that some of your personally identifiable information was inadvertently disclosed in March 2024.
What information was involved? An investigation determined that your e-mail address, as well as details of your case and appeal, were inadvertently released to an individual in response to the individual’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for records concerning appeals processed by OCR’s Denver regional office. No Social Security information or financial information was released.
Your e-mail address and case details were released as part of approximately 900 pages of records disclosed to the FOIA requester. The records disclosed included documents that complainants submitted to OCR’s Denver regional office when they filed appeals after OCR’s Boston regional office dismissed the complaints or made insufficient evidence determinations.
What are we doing? The confidentiality, privacy, and security of your information is one of our highest priorities. When we learned that the records released contained your personal information, we immediately asked the individual to destroy the records he received. The individual has refused to do so. We are also notifying you so you are aware of the incident.
What’s next? The individual may attempt to contact you to discuss your complaint and your interactions with OCR. You are not required to communicate with this individual.
For more information. We understand you may have questions about this incident that are not addressed in this letter. If you have any questions, please call 617-289-0111.
The privacy of your information is critical to us, and we remain committed to ensuring all personal information in our possession is safe and secure. We take this matter very seriously and deeply regret any inconvenience or distress this may have caused you.
Sincerely,
Ramzi Ajami
Director, OCR-Boston
Forgive the Coalition a momentary descent into sarcasm: Mr Ajami is clearly devastated by the release. And of course, “the privacy of (Mr.Fargnoli’s) information is “critical to us”. So critical, in fact, that clearly only the most cursory review of the errant FOIA was performed.
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