Whirlpool Clarifies Student Information Questions

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Benton Harbor School Trustees want to know more about why Whirlpool had access to student records, but Whirlpool tells us the company never did. Whirlpool Corporate Vice President Jeff Noel tells WSJM News it was in fact a Whirlpool employee who was volunteering for the school district that had a contact list for some students given to her by the district.

“The administration asked this individual employee to make some contacts with families, and the school provided the list, which is allowed under the law, and all of that came under the request of and supervision within the school administration,” Noel said. “Whirlpool got none of this information.”

Noel tells us the administration asked the employee to contact students who had left the district. Whirlpool brought in an attorney who determined no wrongdoing had been committed. That was conveyed to the school board’s attorney prior to this week’s meeting where trustees approved a resolution directing the interim superintendent to get them more information. Trustees are concerned the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act may have been violated.