JCPS ‘security breach’ employee speaks out ahead of termination hearing
Jefferson City Public Schools’ instructional technology coordinator Tammy Ferry will face the school board Wednesday in a hearing to determine whether she will be fired.
Ferry’s attorney, David Moen, told ABC 17 News on Friday that his client is the employee who was suspended Feb. 1, for what the district called, ‘a security breach.’
The district announced that a public hearing would be held at the Miller Performing Arts Center at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Moen said the district’s statement of charges included three allegations: that Ferry compromised protected information of current and former students; that shortly after she was notified of her paid administrative leave, Ferry texted multiple colleagues informing them of her discipline; and that Ferry breached a requirement of her paid administrative leave that she not set foot on school grounds.
Ferry said she unknowingly broke that rule when she attended a public school event to support her granddaughter, a JCPS student.
The alleged security breach announced by JCPS in May referred to Ferry’s use of Google’s ‘Takeout’ app to copy her employee drive onto a separate, personal email account.
“I set up a new, personal account so that it wouldn’t be mixed with any of my other work, so it would be separate and held safely and I exported all of those files,” Ferry said. “I was very upset at the thought that I was being accused of a serious breach of data because that’s very important to me to keep student data private.”
A request to JCPS for an on-camera interview before Wednesday’s hearing was declined.
The allegations against Ferry are spelled out in the Hearing brief
Board policy GBCB requires staff to “Keep all student records, medical information and other sensitive information confidential as directed by law, Board policy, district procedures and the employee’s supervisor.” Board Policies EHBC and EHB require all persons who access District data and technology resources to follow state and federal law, district policies and procedures, and other rules created to protect confidential information. Additionally, Board Policy EHB requires a consistently high level of personal responsibility of all users granted access to the district’s technology resources. Ms. Ferry was trained on and acknowledged the requirements of all of these policies.”
Ferry and her attorney said the district is unfairly targeting her due to her ongoing retaliation lawsuit in civil court.
“The retaliation since I’ve testified has been ongoing and I just consider this to be part of it,” Ferry said in an exclusive interview with ABC 17 News. “It’s really hard to see the leadership that I have worked with for years participate in this.”
Ferry filed a civil case in 2017, claiming she was the victim of retaliation as a result of her testimony in a similar case filed by her former colleague, Karen Ray.
