Do JWs have "Penitential communication" with their Elders?

My step-dad was an elder. When he would come home, he would tell my mother everything that went on at the elder meeting. Then she would tell us kids. We got vivid details about people's personal lives. We would know who was getting df'd and why before it was ever announced in the hall. It made me feel so horrible that we knew things about people that they thought was going to be kept private.