La Grange 102 Admits Consent Form 'Not Entirely Accurate'

LA GRANGE, IL — La Grange School District 102 should have told parents that coronavirus testing data would be used by a school board member and his company, the district's attorney said in a report released Thursday.

Some parents have taken issue with the district's consent form that allows their children to be tested for the coronavirus. The form said the information would be kept confidential and used for the sole purpose of surveillance testing.

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But the overall data on testing was later posted on the district's website and used by board Vice President Ed Campbell, who formed SafeGuard Surveillance, a coronavirus testing company, in mid-September.

"This has raised the question of whether Dr. Campbell should have used this data when parents and staff members were not notified that this would occur," the district's attorney, Darcy Kriha, said in a 10-page report to the board.

When the board decided to post the data online at the end of September, parents and employees were notified and offered the opportunity to withdraw from the program, Kriha said. No one did.

"With the benefit of hindsight, I agree that parents and staff members should have been notified that the data involving their child's COVID-19 surveillance testing would be used by Dr. Campbell and Safeguard," Kriha said.

But she said Campbell had no "insider" knowledge about the district's testing program. He only used publicly available data and not confidential health information about students and employees, she said.

Kriha said in the report she took responsibility for the consent form because she drafted it.

At Thursday's school board meeting, Kriha said the consent form's language was "not entirely accurate."