I attended a session at the Rural School Conference on changes in FERPA, presented by the school attorneys James Gessford and Gregory Perry. Now is a good time to review the FERPA Law and its regulations.
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) gives parents rights to:
- inspect and review their children's education records
- request amendment of the records
- prohibit disclosure- "The parent or eligible student shall provide a signed and dated written consent before a school discloses personally identifiable information from the student's educational records" with various exceptions.
- receive annual notice of their rights under FERPA.
Parent includes a natural parent, a guardian or an individual acting as a parent in the absence of a parent or guardian.
Non-custodial parents have a right to access educational records unless the court has entered a specific order to the contrary.
Step-parents have rights under FERPA if they are present on a day-to-day basis with the natural parent and child and the other parent is absent from that home.
An exception to prior consent is information that the school designates as directory information. The purpose of directory information is to allow the school to publish some types of information in school publications, such as an honr roll list, a sports program or a yearbook. Bancroft-Rosalie School has designated the following as directory information:
- Students name
- Grade level
- Photograph
- participation in officially recognized activities or sports
- Date and place of birth
- Address
- Weight and height of members of athletic teams
- Major field of study
- Telephone listing
- Degrees, honors and awards received
- Dates of attendance
- Electronic mailing listing the most recent educational agency or institution attended.
