The families of about 340 students at Christ the King Elementary School have been left wondering what hands their children’s personal information is in.

They were recently informed dental records for the school have gone missing.

Last week – at least a month after officials realized the information was missing – families received letters from the Department of Health and Social Services explaining the dental health community log book from the school “has been lost or misplaced.”

The log book includes each child’s name, date of birth and student identification number.

It also outlines dental treatment plans and progress notes that could contain a student’s name and dental charts that might have been transferred from another school.

Department spokeswoman Pat Living today described the log book as a four-inch binder containing the information which is limited to the student’s name, number and dental information.

Living said it became clear the book was missing at the end of the past school year.

Letters weren’t sent out until July 28, she explained, because the department was conducting a major search, and officials believed it would be found.

A search of school dental clinics, the main dental health office and all government vehicles used by dental hygienists has been done.

While the hunt continues, Living said, when the book was not found in any of those places by just before the end of July, it was time to inform families of the situation.

“We’ve really done our due diligence,” she said, stressing the department takes the protection of privacy seriously and is reviewing its policies around it.

She noted the log books don’t contain information that would likely be used for identity theft.

This is the first time anything like this has happened, Living noted.

The territory has been running the children’s dental program since the 1990s, when it took it over from Health Canada.

Under the program, dental services are provided to children throughout the territory, delivered through the schools.

In Whitehorse, the program is in place until students enter high school, while in the communities, it remains in place until the end of Grade 12.

When dental hygienists work at a school, they may be working there for a couple of weeks or longer.

They sign out that school’s log book from the children’s dental program, located in the Whitehorse Health Centre building on Quartz Road, and have it for the time they are working at the school.

They are then required to sign it back in again.

It’s possible, she acknowledged, that someone who came across the book may have thought it belongs to the Department of Education and returned it to an Education building, but nothing has come up so far.

The letter to families, signed by Paddy Meade, Health and Social Services’ deputy minister, apologizes for the situation, noting: “We are keenly aware of how important your child’s personal information is.

“My department is committed to providing quality services, including protecting your child’s personal information. I want to assure you that we are reviewing our current procedures and implementing changes to ensure that this type of incident does not occur in the future.”

It goes on to note the situation has been reported to Diane McLeod-McKay, the territory’s information and privacy commissioner.

In an interview this morning, McLeod-McKay said she has been made aware of the situation, but could not go into detail on it due to confidentiality requirements.

She explained that while there’s no mandatory requirement to report breaches, she can make recommendations to prevent similar instances happening in the future.

In this case, Living said the incident has been reported to the privacy commissioner, but no recommendations have yet been made.

The department’s review will look at what will and won’t work to keep the records secure while ensuring dental hygienists can properly do their work in the schools.

The loss of the book has not been reported to RCMP.

“We do not believe it’s a theft,” Living said.

The department is still looking for the book which could be in a school or building that has not yet been searched.

One parent of a student at the school, who asked that his children not be identified, said this morning when his wife opened the government’s letter, they were shocked to learn their son’s information could be accessed by anyone out there who might come across the book.

It shows there hasn’t been enough security or safety measures in place to protect his son’s information, the father said.

He also wondered whether the search had extended to include personnel who would have access to the elementary school, but not be associated with the dental program – property management staff, janitors and the like.

And there’s a question about why the information isn’t available to hygienists in digital form.

“You’d think everything would be digitally encrypted,” he said.

Living said she could not answer why the department doesn’t have a digital system for the school dental files, noting it may be something considered in the future.

For now though, officials will continue their search for the four-inch binder containing the dental information while also reviewing their policies around the protection of private information.