9th grade teacher violate privacy

[Angryparent]

I know a 9th grader who has been out of school in a psychiatric hospital for just over 2 weeks. A student in her school asked the teacher in class where she was the teacher responded "I heard she is in the hospital" in front of the whole class. The kids in the class all speculated that the 9th grader was in the psychiatric hospital and began talking about this threw the school. The 9th grader heard about this while in the hospital and attempted suicide related to this. Did the teacher break the law or was he just morally wrong?

 

[army judge]

What law do you think the teacher broke?
If you believe laws were broken, report the matter to the police.
Nothing you can do to resolve this via the Internet.

 

[cbg]

The teacher did not break the law and I'm not so sure that he was even morally wrong.

 

[Betty3]

Agree, I don't see that the teacher broke the/any law. I'm sorry though that the child attempted suicide.

 

[CdwJava]

I also don't see any legal issue with answering a question about where a student was. Unless the teacher unlawfully accessed and related confidential information from student records, I don't see that merely mentioning that she "heard" the child was in "the hospital" (which can mean anywhere for anything from a hangnail to an appendicitis) is actionable. If the child in question tried to commit suicide BECAUSE of that statement to the class, then I suspect that child would have likely made a similar attempt for most any reason.

 

[ElleMD]

I am very familiar with education law and this isn't even in the ballpark of a violation. I feel for the kid but if he/she was already in a psychiatric hospital, it was for good reason. That reason is what caused the suicide attempt, not a teacher innocently telling a student's peers he/she is hospitalized.