• From: Ahmed Ismail <ismaila@gpschools.org>
    Date: Tue, Oct 17, 2023 at 10:16 AM
    Subject: GP North Choir Concert Photos
    To: Colleen Hughes <xxxxx>
    Cc: School Board (GPPSS) <schoolboard@gpschools.org>


    Hello, Ms. Hughes,

    This email is in response to your email dated October 16 at 9:42pm.  While I can't speak for the other school board members, I will try to address each of the items in your email in the order in which they were written.

    1.  THE CONCERT.  I agree with you - I believe Ms. Weil and her students did a wonderful job on Saturday night.

    2.  YOUR CHOIR PHOTOGRAPHER.  You mention that you have an official choir photographer.  If you would be so kind as to share a link to their website, I would very much like to view their images of the concerts I have missed.

    3.  MY CONCERT PHOTOS OF THE NORTH CHOIR.  I was asked by both one of your donors and a grandparent of one of your students if I would take photos of the North concert and make them available to parents to download at no charge as we do for the South choir.  I agreed to do so, not knowing that you have a photographer who is already capturing images and sharing them with the community.

    4.  PHOTOGRAPHING STUDENTS AT PUBLIC EVENTS.  The issue you brought up of FERPA violations is a serious one in my mind, as it impacts dozens of events I (and a lot of other community members) photograph every year.  By way of a copy of this email, I am requesting Mr. Fenton (our interim superintendent) to clarify whether or not community members are allowed to photograph our students and the amazing things they are doing at our various public events and post them online.  While I would regret not being able to create images of the students as I have for the past 25 years and sharing them with the community, the last thing I want to be doing is violating any federal, state or school system rules or policies.

    5.  CONCERNS ABOUT PHOTOS OF YOUR STUDENT.  While we are waiting for the answer to Item 3, I would be happy to remove any individual photos I have of your student as well as blur them out of any group photos.  The album of images from the North concert can be viewed at http://event.portraitplacegp.com/2023_1014_GPN_Choir_Fall_Concert.  If you would be so kind as to click on the image(s) of your student and let me know the four digit number of their individual image, I will delete the image from the album.  If they appear in a group and you would like them blurred out, please let me know the image number and which student they are in the image.

    Respectfully,

    Ahmed Ismail


    Ahmed Ismail, President
    Grosse Pointe Public School System - Board of Education
    Office:  313-343-9060

    Note:  The opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the balance of the Board of Trustees and/or the administration of the Grosse Pointe Public School System. Emails sent to or from this email address are accessible by the public under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).


    On Mon, Oct 16, 2023 at 9:42 PM 'Colleen Hughes' via Schoolboard Email <schoolboard@gpschools.org> wrote:
    Hello. Maybe a week or 2 ago, our GPN Choirs Parent Club, penned an email to you, our School Board Members, inviting you all to our first concert of the school year. For those of you that couldn’t attend, we had a lovely show. Our new Choirs Teacher, Peyton Weil, did an amazing job and our kids, who have recently been through many transitions, performed beautifully. I was so proud and full of joy, as I’m sure all attendees were!  On that evening, our Parent Board, appointed Photographer, mentioned that Board President Ahmed Ishmail had been in the audience and was taking pictures of our students.  Later, I was made aware that President Ishmail will post pictures to his personal business pages.  In complete disbelief, I searched for The Portrait Place on FB and sure enough there they are, well over 100 pictures posted.  Seeing as how I helped to edit our email invite to you all and our Admins at North take our students safety, and FERPA regulations very seriously, and trust our Parent Board to make good, well rounded decisions, I’m pretty certain NO permission was given to take pictures and/or post to a business page.  Now, if for some odd reason I’m wrong, I know with 100% certainty that I gave zero permission, to School Board President Ahmed Ismail to take pictures of my child and post them on his personnel business page. My child is a minor and as such I find this choice extremely concerning and frankly unethical. If a Board member is willing to turn a simple concert invite into a blatant violation of student and staff privacy, I absolutely must question the validity and character of said Board member and I certainly would hope you all take this very seriously and question this indecent behavior.  As we know all to well …you are only as strong as your weakest link. 


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