School Board Candidate Mandy Pomeroy likely violated the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act with her campaign actions

On Thursday, Jeremy Ranch held its annual Fun Run fundraiser. This is an event where kids run around the field behind the school as many times as they can. It’s simple, and it’s loved by the children.

As part of the event, school board candidate Mandy Pomeroy attended the run. She posted pictures of her high-fiving a student on Facebook. Her Facebook post said:

“Continuing my focus on volunteerism this week, let me tell you about the fun run at Jeremy
Ranch today! I had the best time helping out and making sure these kids had the times of their
lives! But, this isn’t just this week. It’s EVERY week! Just another reason you should elect me
to the District 4 seat. I actually step foot in our schools and I see what’s going on.”

Here is the image. I have blurred out the individuals’ faces and name tag. All faces and the main child’s name tag were visible in the original on Facebook. That’s where the legal violations appear to start.

The main problem with that is that you can’t volunteer at a school and take pictures of children, according to a Park City School District video on volunteering. PCSD says this violates the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act — or FERPA. FERPA was designed to protect the rights of children in our educational environments. We know the school district considers pictures to be considered private information because their information video says, “School staff and volunteers are obligated to abide by the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act, commonly known as FERPA — which restricts individuals from taking images.”

You may be thinking, “Josh, wow, you really have it out for Mandy. You are describing an obscure law. Everyone takes pictures of kids. What is the possible harm?” First, it’s not an obscure law, since the school district made a point to make a video about it. Second, Mandy is a school board member. So, she should know the details. As for “every one takes pictures of kids” that likely needs to stop based upon current laws.

Finally, what’s the possible harm? This is why I wrote this article. For some people, this isn’t a game. When I first started filming Summit County meetings a woman approached me and told me that I couldn’t film her or she would sue me. Being full of bravado, I told her that this was a public space and she had no expectation of privacy. She then explained the situation to me.

She was a victim of domestic violence. She and her children had escaped a relationship and the abuser had no idea where they were. By filming her, and posting it online, I could endanger her and her family. After hearing that, I never posted her face online. It was the human thing to do.

Laws like FERPA are in place for a reason. They are there to protect our most vulnerable. Did Ms. Pomeroy mean to harm someone? Of course not. I believe she was there to watch her kids run and then saw it as a campaign opportunity. Perhaps she received permission ahead of time from Jeremy Ranch to film. However, I doubt that’s the case.

Instead, it shows a lack of judgement. It shows a lack of understanding of current directives. Along the way, she may have endangered children and their families

We all have the opportunity to grow. Hopefully Ms. Pomeroy learns from this. I think what makes this worse than someone randomly taking a pic at a school is that it seems to be more of a political ad than a random picture. I’m not sure what violating a federal law or school policy means for a sitting board member. Probably nothing — given the current environment. I guess we’ll see.

Most importantly, I hope the picture hasn’t caused harm to anyone or their family members.