You expect a school to protect your child's private information, but one local school admits it slipped up and is in the process of working to be sure it never happens again.
The Warren County Virtual school is based in Lebanon.
The people who run the school for at-risk students say they don't know how a list that includes students’ social security numbers got out of the building without being shredded.
Contractors installing fiber on Silver Street in Lebanon say they found the four-page list in a recycling dumpster when they went to dump some trash.
"We didn't even have to dig for it," said Brad Stout.
"If we had to dig for it, we would have never found it because we weren't looking for it," said Stout.
Stout and his co-workers say they found the list which has more than 140 students’ names, addresses, social security numbers and birth dates listed. Their parents names are on there, too.
Stout was worried about identity theft.
"There's always the opportunity for somebody to walk past looking for this stuff. There's people that do that," he said.
After stopping by some of the listed students' homes and talking to their parents, 9News learned that the paperwork probably came from the Warren County Virtual Community School.
The school office is one of the many offices near the dumpster. The principal was shocked when he saw what was found.
"Very shocked. We keep all of our records locked down," said Principal Brian Barot.
“Only a few people have access to them.”
Improperly disposing of private information of this type is a violation of the Federal Education Privacy Act.
The Ohio Department of Education is now aware of the situation and is looking to see if steps need to be taken to prevent this from happening again.
The principal already has plans to meet with his staff and change procedures.
"It should have been kept in our office at all times,” said Barot.
“The school year is winding down. I see students all the time. They just pop in . It's possible they could have just picked it up by mistake from my desk," he said.
The parents with children on the list call the situation scary.
They tell 9News they expected better from the school.
