School District Pulls ‘Intrusive’ Questionnaire : Privacy: Lancaster officials were shocked to learn about the enrollment forms, which had been handed out for years.

When Janelle Smith began filling out the enrollment forms for her children’s new elementary school in Lancaster, she suspected something was wrong.

Why would a school need to know how long her labor lasted? Whether she gave birth with or without anesthesia? Whether she’d had a Cesarean section? If the child were bottle- or breast-fed?

In fact, the school--and the district--didn’t need to know.

When Smith protested, Lancaster school district officials were appalled. They claim they didn’t know about the form and had never received a complaint beside Smith’s. Her calls triggered an investigation and the school district this week sent out a memo ordering its 15 schools to destroy the questionnaires.

“We certainly don’t need to ask these questions,” said Ned McNabb, the district’s director of pupil personnel. “They are intrusive and inappropriate.”

Further, McNabb said, he was shocked that only one parent complained about the so-called Health History questionnaire being used in the 13,000-student district. When he heard about it, McNabb said he asked a colleague with a child in elementary school if she had filled out the form. She said she found it odd but didn’t complain, McNabb said.

“I’m surprised that more parents didn’t raise holy heck,” he said.

The page-long form, one of several required when a child is enrolled, asks parents several questions about the child’s past medical history and illnesses and developmental stages. It asks about vaccinations and the child’s early history, such as when the child first walked and was toilet trained.

The Los Angeles Unified School District requires physicians to complete a health form asking, among other things, several optional questions regarding the child’s birth weight and whether there were any other prenatal or neonatal complications. The parent ultimately signs the form before the information is released to the schools.

The Los Angeles district tells its school nurses that if parents complain about that section to ignore it, school district officials said. The district wants to have as much information as possible to help analyze any special problems, the officials said.

But when Smith, who ultimately enrolled her two children at Nancy Cory elementary school, saw the questions the Lancaster district was asking, she balked.

“I wasn’t going to enroll my kids there,” Smith said. “These are personal questions. Would I ask the principal if he had a vasectomy? It’s just none of their business.”

The form asked parents to complete the birth and pregnancy section if the child was entering kindergarten for the first time. It asks the parent to specify whether the delivery was vaginal, breech or Cesarean, and whether the mother used Lamaze breathing techniques or anesthesia.

Other questions marked optional asked about the newborn’s condition at birth and what type of formula was used if the baby was bottle-fed. It also asked whether the child had any complications in the first month of life.

Smith also said she objected to questions asking whether the child had a bed-wetting problem.

The Lancaster district never authorized the form and has no idea how long it was used, McNabb said. The district staff held a meeting this week at which time the decision was unanimous: Kill the form, McNabb said.

In its memo to schools, the district said the form had been used for many years and that it asked for unnecessary information.

In bold letters, the memo said: “Please discontinue the use of the current Health History form upon receipt of this memo. Have your staff remove it from packets that have been prepared for new enrollees. Dispose of any stock that is on your shelves.”

The district currently is revising the form and will use the new version if it is determined that more detailed health information is needed for the child’s educational plans and in-school health care program. The district already requires parents to complete an emergency card which asks for information about health problems.

“The emergency card includes questions that will elicit the health information most critical for us to know on every student,” the memo said. “The school nurses can review the emergency cards to determine if they need to contact parents for further information.”

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A Form in Question

The Lancaster school district required parents to complete a Health History form until a parent complained about the contents--it asked personal questions about the pregnancy and birth of the child. The district this week told schools to destroy the form because officials said it contained unnecessary questions. Here is a copy of the form with segments containing the unnecessary questions highlighted.