Public health agencies regularly survey randomly selected anonymous students to track drug use, sexual activities, and other risk behaviors. Students are unidentifiable, but a recent project that included school-level analysis discovered a school with alarmingly prevalent student suicidality. Given confidentiality protocols typical of surveillance, the surveyors were uncertain whether and how to intervene. We searched literature for duties to warn at-risk groups discovered during public health surveillance, but we found no directly applicable guidance or cases. Reasoning by analogy, we conclude that surveyors should contact the school’s leaders to call attention to its outlier status, but public warning is unwarranted. However, such an ad hoc decision to issue a warning, even if only to school leaders, raises significant practical, legal and ethical issues. National public health and education associations should produce guidance that clarifies ethical and legal duties owed to schools and students involved in population health-risk surveillance.

公共卫生机构定期调查随机选择的匿名学生，以跟踪毒品使用，性行为和其他危险行为。学生身份不明，但最近一项包含学校水平分析的项目发现，一所学校的学生自杀倾向令人震惊。给定监视典型的保密协议，验船师不确定是否以及如何进行干预。我们在文献中搜索了警告在公共卫生监视期间发现的危险人群的职责，但没有发现直接适用的指南或案例。通过类推推理，我们得出结论，测量师应与学校负责人联系，以提请注意学校的异常状况，但不宜公开警告。但是，即使只是向学校领导发出警告的这种临时决定，也会带来很大的实际意义，法律和道德问题。全国公共卫生和教育协会应制定指导，阐明对参与人口健康风险监测的学校和学生应负的道德和法律责任。