A printing contractor for the Chicago Public Schools said Sunday that
it mistakenly mailed a list of names, Social Security numbers and home
addresses of nearly 1,740 former school employees as part of a packet
of health-insurance information to them.
Broadview-based All Printing & Graphics Inc., which was hired to
print, stuff and mail the packets, said it did not realize an e-mail
from the Chicago Public Schools contained the personal data. The e-mail
requested that the company send open enrollment information to former
employees still receiving health-care coverage through the schools.
"I think it's just human error," said Ralph
Fowlkes, the company's general manager, who oversaw the project. "It's
not that anybody blatantly tried to do anything. ... We certainly
apologize for the mix-up."
Chicago school officials acknowledged Sunday that the printer sent the
list to some former employees who receive health coverage, but they
were not certain how many. A spot check showed that some received the
packet of insurance information but not the list, said spokesman
Michael Vaughn.
Some former employees who got the packets in
the mail over the weekend said they were shocked to find the 125-page
list of personal data about themselves and others. They feared the
information could be delivered to the wrong address or end up in the
wrong hands, leaving them vulnerable to fraud.
Retired
elementary school teacher Peggy Janik said she had spent the last few
weeks pushing years worth of old receipts and paycheck stubs through
her new shredder to protect her most private information, only to find
the list in her mail Saturday.
"I worked at it to keep my
identity closed and hidden, and in a moment it was gone. Seventeen
hundred-plus people now have it," Janik, 60, said Sunday. "We feel
totally violated. It's horrifying."
Paul Rieger, a retired
5th-grade teacher at Clissold Elementary School, said he would like the
school system to provide the former employees with some form of
credit-card or identity protection.
"There are people who sell
that stuff to scam artists," said Rieger, 59, of the Beverly
neighborhood in Chicago. "And here it's given out to everybody. I think
whoever was responsible for that should be held accountable and in a
big way."
School officials will continue to investigate the
matter Monday, Vaughn said. The printer mistakenly sent the spreadsheet
that was used to generate the mailing labels, thinking it was a list of
health-care providers, according to Vaughn.
"We sincerely apologize for the error in the mailing," he said. "We've already started working to address the situation."
Vaughn said school officials plan to send out a follow-up letter Monday
that will formally apologize for the mistake, thank recipients who
might have already shredded the list and instruct those who have not to
mail it back in a postage-paid envelope. The letter will also include
information about credit-card and identity-theft protection, Vaughn
said.
Fowlkes said his company will more carefully review the information in the future.
The Chicago Teachers Union said in a statement that it is "always
fearful of intrusion on the privacy" of its members and expressed shock
over the recent mailing.
"We are outraged and extremely
disappointed that the Board of Education did not take greater
precaution in protecting the privacy of these individuals," the
statement read. "We will have to look into the potential of legal
action pertaining to this issue."
Former employees can receive
continued health-care coverage under the COBRA program, which provides
them access to the school system's health insurance plan for up to 18
months, Vaughn said. The packet was supposed to include only a cover
letter and health-care information, not the list of personal data, he
said.
A retired administrator at Hearst Elementary School whose
name appears on the list said she was especially disturbed to find the
packet lying on her doorstep instead of inside her mail slot.
"Anyone could have come by and picked it up," said Ida Cheeks, 55, of
Chicago. "I was very livid. The thing that really bothers me is that
with identity theft now, all you need is a Social Security number and
you can find out anything you want to about my personal business."
At her home in Oak Lawn on Sunday, Janik and two relatives--also
retired Chicago Public Schools employees--pored over the list,
recognizing the names of retired teacher after retired teacher. They
said they knew of at least four other retired school employees who also
received the list in the mail.
"You've got to laugh at this, or
you go somewhere and jump off the roof," joked Arthur Mrumlinski, a
retired principal of Kennedy High School.
Mrumlinski's wife,
Dorothy, who is also Janik's cousin, said she is diligent about
protecting her personal and financial information and was shocked that
her name appeared on the list as the covered employee in her family.
She said she had not yet received the mailing.
"I don't give
anything out over the phone, I don't give anything out over the
computer," said Dorothy Mrumlinski, a retired kindergarten teacher at
Bouchet Elementary School. "And here it all is in one fell swoop."
School officials encouraged anyone with concerns to call 773-553-2820
or e-mail them at communications@cps.k12.il.us. For information about
identity-theft protection, they suggested visiting
www.consumer.gov/idtheft.
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cflynn@tribune.com
