Dear Ministry of Education,

Kamo Intermediate School in Kamo has introduced a school portal called eTAP, for which further information on this portal can be found at https://www.etap.co.nz/index.php/about/p...

From a review of one of our children's absence records held in eTAP, it has come to our attention that the Description for an pre-advised absence has been incorrectly input to the eTAP system by staff at their school.

Staff had incorrectly recorded a Description for our child's absence on 11th April 2019, as:-

No Information was provided -Truant

Our child's absence for this day had been advised to school staff by email on the 8th April 2019 and reasons explained.

We are currently in the process of seeking correction under Principal 7 (1) (a) the Privacy Act 1993 from the school of this inaccurate and misleading absence Description and in order to do this we respectfully request the provision from the Ministry of Education of the following information with regard to the complete list of eTAP descriptions that can be input by school staff to record a pupils absence.

Official Information Act request 1

I respectfully request the provision pursuant to the Official Information Act 1982 of the complete list of eTAP descriptions that can be input by school staff using the eTAP portal to record a pupils absence on the eTAP school portal.

Without providing information to a school about a child's absence, a parent can be found in breach of the Education Act 1989, specifically section 25 (1) (a), and a child is also deemed as being a Truant on their day of an unreported absence. A parent can be prosecuted in the courts for the Truancy of their child.

Information on recorded Truancy is also shared with other multi-disciplinary agencies, and so my next request for official information is to establish the names and contact details for all agencies who will have received the inaccuracte, and incorrect advice that our family had not provided information to Kamo Intermedaite on the 8 April 2019 that our child would be absent for the full day on the 11 April 2019, and that our child was a Truant on the 11 April 2019. This will allow our family to be able to seek (1) confirmation of what Truancy information has been referred to any other multidisciplinary agency, and (2) for our family to seek the correction of this incorrect, inaccurate and misleading information.

Official Information Act request 2

Please provide the complete list of agencies, organisations, or other parties, other than Kamo Intermediate School and the eTAP school portal company that will have been supplied the incorrect, inaccurate, and misleading information that our family had not provided information that our child would be absent from school on the 11 April 2019, and that our child had been recorded as having been Truant.

It would be appreciated if you could return this requested information to my personal email address at:- [email address].

I thank you for your time and assistance.

Yours faithfully,

David Lawson