Education

Seminole High School coach sent parents athletes' GPAs, principal says

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — A coach at Seminole High School sent personal information about students to hundreds of people it wasn’t meant for, school officials said.

The school principal sent a letter to parents saying information on students’ athletic eligibility status, including grade point averages, was accidentally sent out in a mass text message on July 27.

The letter said, “It appears that several coaches were provided student information to determine eligibility for fall sports. One of our coaches forwarded the information to athletes on his teams."

School district spokesperson Michael Lawrence said the mistake had to do with attaching the wrong file, which he said was forwarded to a group of athletes' parents.

The principal wrote in the letter that the athletic director provided several coaches the GPA list with more than 4,000 students on it, to determine who was eligible for fall sports.

The action is against district policy.

One of the coaches accidentally texted that list to 500 people.

“I think it’s very unacceptable. I know things are an accident, but this has just gone way too far,” said student Samya Kirby. “People are embarrassed of their GPAs. Some people are not as smart as other people.”

The letter said steps were taken to retrieve the data and an investigation is underway.

Lawrence said most of the texts were able to be recalled, and the parents who did receive it were told about the mistake. He said because the file had student GPA information, the school wanted to be proactive. The document had 4,121 students listed.

No Social Security numbers, individual test scores or individual class grades were sent out, the letter said.

The letter said disciplinary action will be taken once the investigation is complete.