Missouri Supreme Court sides with Jefferson City Schools in dispute with former employee
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Jefferson City School District followed the law and district policy when it fired a former employee accused of illegally transferring student data, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
The court found in its 12-page opinion that the district showed Tammy Ferry violated district policy by transferring the files to her computer in 2019 "without a legitimate educational interest."
Ferry, a former tenured instructional technology teacher with the Jefferson City School District, was fired from the district in 2019 after transferring thousands of documents onto her personal Google account. According to court documents, more than a thousand of the files contained students' personal information.
The court ruled that there was "substantial evidence" that Ferry violated student privacy laws and school district policy when she transferred the files to aid her in a discrimination suit against JC Schools.
Ferry argued that such transfers were common practice and that transferring the files was not illegal because they were never accessed by a third party.
In March 2020, a Cole County judge upheld a lower court's ruling that Ferry's firing was unlawful and ordered the district to rehire her and give her back pay. The district challenged the ruling, sending it to the Missouri Supreme Court and leading to Tuesday's ruling.
"Our pursuit of this appeal has been a reflection of the district's commitment to protecting our students and their confidential student records," Jefferson City Schools said in a statement. "We feel strongly that the Court's ruling to uphold the Board of Education's decision is firmly in the best interest of our staff, students, and their families."
