Identity Should Have Stayed Secret

In the frightening days that followed the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, it took courage for a Hueneme High School student to tell campus administrators in confidence that a classmate had expressed plans to shoot students and teachers.

It is outrageous that school officials failed to keep her identity secret from the student she accused.

Elizabeth Goodall, 20, is suing the district, alleging that its officials acted negligently. She left school in May 1999, about a month before graduation, because school administrators told her they couldn’t guarantee her safety. Since then, her lawsuit says, she has been threatened with violence numerous times.

Oxnard Union High School District officials have refused to comment on the case, believed to be the first of its kind in California.

Although the state Education Code does not explicitly require districts to keep students’ names confidential if they are witnesses in expulsion cases, most districts do so to ensure those students’ safety.

In the aftermath of Columbine and other school shootings, students are routinely encouraged to tell a teacher or counselor if they see a gun at school or hear another student threatening violence. Speaking up in such cases violates the age-old playground code against tattling. But when lives are at stake, students must find the courage to tell someone who can take action.

That is far more difficult if the students cannot be positive that their identities will remain confidential.

A court will determine how the student turned in by Goodall learned the name of her accuser, and whether the district was in fact negligent. Whatever the verdict, it is essential for school administrators to keep information of this sort confidential--for the safety of kids who dare to do the right thing and for everyone else.