For decades, teachers held over their students the threat of putting discipline infractions on their permanent record. Such a record, which presumably followed a child from kindergarten to high school graduation, was more myth than reality. But recent federal education law has turned the myth into reality by creating a record of student behavior infractions that is forwarded to the state and made available to the U.S. Department of Education.

The Five Town Community School District board, which oversees Camden Hills Regional High School, recently balked at sending the data to the state Department of Education. Refusing to forward to the state the information, which includes student names, would have threatened some of the district’s federal funding. Board members later relented, but many remained unhappy with the principle of the disclosure with its Orwellian overtones.Their concerns are understandable. Five Town Superintendent Pat Hopkins said the infractions that must be reported to the state include bullying, fighting, truancy, smoking or possession of tobacco, possession of alcohol or illegal drugs, disorderly conduct, making threats, sexual harassment, aggravated assault and others.

Several scenarios leap to mind: For example, if a student is accused of smoking marijuana behind the bleachers before homeroom, and the student’s infraction is forwarded to the state, could the federal government deny college financial aid on the basis of that charge? What about groups that grant private scholarships – is that information available to them? And what if the student did not, in fact, smoke marijuana, but smelled of the substance from standing near someone who was smoking?

Bill Hurwitch, who oversees the state Education Department’s school data gathering, understands why the program could be seen as Big Brother tactics. But the state is prohibited by law from sharing the names of any students with the federal government or with private groups.

Earlier on in the program, the infraction reports were sent to the state with no names attached. Instead, students were identified by their student ID number. Federal No Child Left Behind law mandates that every public school student be given an identification number. Then names were attached to the numbers at the request of school secretaries, since students sometimes share the same name, Mr. Hurwitch said.

It is impossible to link a student name to the number, he added.

The data are gathered so federal education officials can track how often special ed students are removed from “instructional environments” for behavioral issues. Their concern is that special ed students are being discriminated against and removed more often than their mainstream counterparts. But the data are gathered on both mainstream and special ed students.

Though the information is not gathered for school accountability, it is available in aggregate to the public. That means parents can inquire of their school principal how many incidents of fighting, sexual harassment and drug use were recorded at the school.

“It’s a question of trust,” Mr. Hurwitch said of the Camden district’s concerns, though he admitted he understood “that Big Brother issue.”

Just as students get a fresh start every September, perhaps the name-identifying data should be deleted at the start of each school year.