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FERPA Training Video

Added Jul 29, 2020 •

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hello my name is Steve LaRue of lrp Publications Welcome to our video on student privacy rights and your school's responsibility to protect specifically we're going to talk about how those privacy rights relate to a child's education records whether you were an administrator a teacher a school psychologist a paraprofessional or any other staff member involved with student education records our session today will hope you understand and comply with the family educational rights and Privacy Act commonly known as FERPA birthday is a federal law that protects student information from being disclosed without prior consent from their parents it also gives parents to other rights the right to review their child's records and the right to have the school amend any inaccurate information in those record and please know this under FERPA when a child turns 18 or enrolls in a college if that happens first all of the rights will discuss today transfer automatically from the parents to the student here's an overview of what will cover first we'll explore the type of information that I was under for foot protection then we'll examine what you must do to ensure parents are able to exercise their legal right to access that information next we'll go over for Fish rules preventing schools from disclosing information without first getting parental consent and we'll talk about some of the exceptions to those rules then we'll discuss when Ferber requires a school to a man records and what you must do when parents ask you to change records after that we'll touch on your District's duty to notify parents about their FERPA rights and finally will say a few words about purpose relationship to some other federal laws including the individuals with disabilities Education Act and the No Child Left Behind Act we've got a lot on our plates today so let's get started schools duties under FERPA extend only to education records of it student so good place to start is by looking at what what is not an education record purple defines the term to include records filed documents and other materials that first contain information directly related to a student talk more about what this means in a moment second in order to qualify as an education record the document must also be maintained by an educational agency or institution generate discovers records that your school keeps This Record room files or on his computer databases but records kept by a person acting for your school such as an attorney also meet the definition when we speak of information directly related to a student any or all of the following the students name the names of the parents or other family members the address of the student or of his or her family a personal identifiers such as a social security number for student ID number a list of personal characteristics or other information that would make the students identity easily traceable this might include information about a particular subjects such as students bye-bye race or disability if that information would allow someone to easily identify a single student but even if a particular document meets both part of the definition of an education record that is if it contains personally identifiable information and is maintained by your school it still might not be protected under FERPA this is because the law specifically excludes certain categories of records from its definition of Education records the first two are the most important for elementary and secondary schools is kept in the sole possession of a teacher or administrator used as a personal memory aid or not reveal to anyone except a temporary substitute qualifies as a sole possession record and is not covered under FERPA typically examples include meeting notes or teachers logs records created and maintained by your schools law enforcement unit do now qualify as education records provided they are created for purposes of investigating a possible violation of the law and for enforcement generally a child's discipline record would not fall under this exception because it's kept by the school and usually does not cover a violation of the law three other types of documents excluded from the definition of an education record deserve a brief mention here they include certain medical records related to treatment of a student over 18 years old employment records relating to students who are working for the school but are not enrolled there and records that only contain information about students after they are no longer enrolled at the school keep in mind that FERPA merely defines the term education record it does not regulate when how or for what purpose your school creates its record nor does it tell you what you may or may not include in them well now that you know what an education record is we need to cover how the law requires you to handle it the first let's talk about the parents right to inspect and review their child's records what's a document is identified as an education record purple require is that it must be made available to the parents if they want to look at it when they asked to inspect a particular record your school has a maximum of 45 days to comply with the request if you haven't already done so your school should stop the policy on record inspection consider including all of the following points maintain a record or a log of all inspection request and the date they were received a point a specific individual who are you responsible for handling all requests establish a procedure to process the request your procedure should include steps to verify the parents identity away to confirm that the documents requested are education record a method of organizing the documents and making arrangements with the parents as to how when and where to conduct the review develop a standard request form and asked lyrics to fill it out before they begin their review they should also be asked to sign the form when they're done at a minimum the form should contain the names of the parents and the student a description and an itemized list of the records provided and the date the review was conducted and completed purple and poses some other important rules concerning record inspection and review first your school is responsible for making sure it does not furnish the parent with personally Bible information about other students if you can't divide a record in such a way to allow the parents to review only the portion that concerns their child you might have to delete or redact information about other students from that wreck accepting a few limited situations when circumstances prevent parents from conducting an in-person review does not require schools to provide parents with copies of the requested records course your school is to adopt a policy of providing copies upon request keep in mind that the laws of your state might require it schools can charge a reasonable fee for the cost of reproducing the records if asked your school must respond to reasonable request for explanations and interpretation of Records many districts make sure that a school official is present while the parents are looking at their child's records this technique ensures that someone is on Han answer questions and also to make sure that all of the records are returned after the review is completed here's another important obligation FERPA imposes on your District simply put the law school from disclosing to us party personally identifiable information from a student's records without first getting consent from the parents of course there's nothing simple about understanding any language drafted by congress and that's the case here not only are they numerous exceptions to the rule you also have to understand how far up a Define some important turn let's look first at the term personally identifiable information this one is relatively easy it merely means information derived Mysteries record it includes all of the examples we talked about earlier when we discussed the meaning of information directly related to a student that is the child and families names and addresses personal identifiers and a list of characteristics next you need to know what birth of means by a disclosure ensure when you release information to another party by any means verbally in writing or electronically you are making a for example if you discuss details about a particular student program or placement with a newspaper reporter you are making a disclosure under FERPA if you do so without getting the parents prior consent the district table he has violated the law in order to make illegal disclosure of personally identifiable information about a student your school must first obtain a signed consent from the parents this document must specify that the Wrecker that would be disclosed State the purpose of the disclosure and identify the third party to whom the disclosure would be met here's the best practice technique many districts used for determining third-party disclosures when is school received quest for information that would require prior parental consent school officials first verify the identity of the requester they then look at how the information would be used determine that the request is gentleman do they ask the parents to consent purple allow schools to tonight any requests for information on their own initiative list 15 instances of when schools made his clothes purse the identifiable information about a student without first asking for consent from the child's parents today will only cover the most important of those exceptions to the rule the ones that will likely affect you and your school as long as you who provides public notice in the newspaper student handbook or some other publication apparent could be expected to receive it can release certain personal information about its students perfect cause Vista directory Haitian exception directory information include such things as a student's name address phone number for dissipation and sports activities and dates of attendance notice is crucial here with the information cannot be released without consent also parents must be given the right to opt out that is if the parents notified the school that they don't want the information given out the school must come in very limited circumstances schools can disclose information about student emergency where knowledge of the information is necessary to protect the health and safety of the student or others disclosure may be made to District officials who have a legitimate educational interest in reviewing information your District must have a written policy explaining who is considered an official what is considered to be a legitimate educational National interest as long as you give proper notice you can make disclosures to officials of another school system where the student seeks to enroll you may also turn over information to the juvenile justice system if your state law allows and as long as you try to notify the parents you can disclose information to comply with a court order or subpoena further require schools to keep a record of each request for information and each time they make a disclosure the record-keeping acquirements don't apply to request from and disclosures to parents eligible school officials third parties who have written parental consent and party seeking directory information let's turn now to another important for a requirement the parents right to ask that your school amend or change their child's records if parents believe that any portion of the record is inaccurate misleading or violates the student privacy right they can ask you to amend it so what do you do when you receive a request to change a student's records first you should review the record and Kerman weather the parents are right if so correct the record if not further requires you to notify the parents within a reasonable time that you were going to deny the request you should explain your reasons for you must also tell the parents that they can ask for a hearing of course they should all be done in writing the typical Amendment request will ask you to change a student's grade keep in my the parents cannot use for to challenge a teacher substitute decision you only have to change a grade if it was an accurately recorded or if there was an error made in Computing it so far away three of the four main components of FERPA the rights of parents to access records to prevent non-consensual disclosure of their child record and to ask schools to correct their child records the last requirement of statute concerns your District's duty to inform parents of their further rights purpose says that all districts must effectively inform parents of their rights at least annually some affirmative action is required on your part you can't simply make the information available to parents instead you must publish a notice by means reasonably likely to inform parents of their rights unfortunately FERPA doesn't tell us how to publish this most District do so in a back-to-school edition of their newsletter some use the local newspaper to run the notice each year what purpose does tell you is what to include in your annual notice it must contain a statement that parents have the right to inspect and review their child record seat to a men those records consent to disclose personally identifiable information file a complaint with the US Department of Education about any alleged failure by the district to comply with FERPA an explanation of how parents are who exercise their inspection and amendment rights as we discussed earlier if your district has a policy of allowing disclosure to its officials the notice must specify who constitutes a school official and what are legitimate educational interest means if your school intends to forward records to other schools or colleges where the student intends to enroll you must say so in your notice finally the annual notice must specify the type of information that your District wishes to designate as directory information now that you've got the basics on your belt let's see how it interacts with a few other federal laws affecting schools and students first look at the idea then we'll briefly cover the controversial No Child Left Behind Act as well as a health-related law the health insurance portability and accountability act or HIPAA well the eye DEA incorporate virtually all of FERPA it also addresses some special concerns for parents of students with disabilities by including additional protections Beyond those provided by FERPA here are a few differences between the two laws first the idea imposes a duty on your District to safeguard education records of eligible student districts must appoint an official with appropriate training to assume responsibility for the record FERPA imposes no such specific obligation next parents have idea eligible students have an unrestricted right two copies of certain special education records like IEPs and evaluation reports at no charge under the idea schools must inform parents when certain personally identifiable information is no longer needed to provide a student with Services the parents can then ask that you destroy those records also parents are by DEA students have the right to have their attorney or other representative review records on their behalf something that perfect does not provide finally you should be aware that a divorced parent who has not been awarded city is generally not eligible for many IDE a safeguard under FERPA a non-custodial parent has rights unless specifically revoked by a court order or decree despite its broad scope and sweeping Edge National reforms the No Child Left Behind Act left profile own for the most part but it does add a couple of new wrinkles that you should know that first if asked your District must provide military recruiters with access high schoolers names addresses and telephone listing you must also notify parents of their right to opt out of this rule they can ask you to refrain from releasing such information without consent of course many districts designate information of this type as directory information under FERPA anyway second the nclb require states to develop procedures for transferring a student disciplinary record to other schools where the child a tensor seats to a your State's education department probably has already advised your District of the method it has adopted finally we must say a few words about HIPAA Hippa is a medical Privacy Law that protects Healthcare information likely that hipaa's impact on your district will be minimal because it's restrictions on disclosures apply to education records covered under FERPA I remember if a school does not receive federal funds it is not so different but so now it probably will have to comply with HIPAA rules for disclosing any record that contains individually identifiable health information about a student also if you have a school Clinic certain operational and procedural aspects make under HIPAA rules well we certainly have covered a lot of ground today so let's take a step back and see where we've been and what we've learned first we talked about for a pose definition of an education record that is records retain information directly related to the student and that are maintained by an educational agency or institution we also discussed some types of documents that are excluded from that definition next we talked about what further requires High School when parents ask to review their child's education records the key points are listed for you here you also heard some tips for developing a solid records inspection policy third recovered the general rule that prohibits Bulls from disclosing education records to third parties without first getting parental consent and you also learned about several exceptions to that rule including directory information health and safety emergencies and acts high school officials among others 4th we took a look at when your school must have been a student records and how you must notify the parents when you believe an amendment is not warranted you learn that you must determine the validity of the request respond in writing amend the record if you have determine the requested valid if you determine the request is not valid you must notify the parents explain your decision advise them of their right to a hearing next lyric app for first annual notice requirement and discuss what must appear in your notice including a statement of parent rights procedures for exercising those rights criteria for disclosure to school officials notice of intent to forward education records to other schools and a list of directory information finally we explored how other federal laws specific i d e a nclb and HIPAA have an impact on FERPA and Student Records we hope this video is help you gain a better working knowledge of FERPA and what you have to do to comply with its rules under planning this law will help keep you and your District out of hearing and on better terms with the parents of students you serve of course you should always check the laws of your state to they might impose other specific obligations on you and District as you manage student record good luck and thank you for listening

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