The Iberia Parish School Board voted to send a request to the Louisiana Attorney General regarding sending student data to the Louisiana Department of Health.

Legal counsel Wayne Landry said that the issue revolved around the Department of Education’s protocol for students and teachers entering contact tracing information related to COVID-19. The DOE shares the information with the Louisiana Department of Health, but Landry said the questions on the information sheet are very specific.

“To be honest, principals looked at it and were uncomfortable with the questions, which goes into detail,” Landry said.

Superintendent of Schools Carey Laviolette said that while the district does hold the information for contact tracing, the district has not sent that information to any other agencies out of concern of sharing it with the state and possibly violating a HIPAA law.

“In speaking with others, there are some districts that are just doing it and some that have similar concerns,” Laviolette said.

“If the (AG) sends it back and says go for it, we will still do it without violation of HIPAA, if we have to leave answers off that’s what we’ll do.”

Landry added that Louisiana agencies in the past have shared information about students.

“I just don’t see a reason why they would need a student’s phone number,” he said.

The board voted unanimously to send a letter to the attorney general’s office regarding the issue.