JOY, Illinois (KWQC) - The arrest of a Mercer County school superintendent is raising questions about who can access student medical records and why.

Prosecutors say Timothy Farquer, 53, accessed student vaccine records, put them into a database and shared it, violating those students’ privacy.

He could spend up to five years in prison if convicted.

Student medical records are protected under Illinois privacy laws and federal laws that protect student information.

Teri Ross, the executive director of Illinois Legal Aid Online, said both apply to student privacy cases.

“If there was a measles outbreak or an identified confirmed case of measles in the school district, then accessing the immunization records would make sense,” she said. “But beyond that, I can’t think of a good example o

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