Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

ADM 5.0

Policies and procedures for protecting the right of privacy of students and their parents regarding school records are written and stated clearly in the parent/student handbook.

Purpose:


  • To ensure that the school’s policies comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) i.e. to provide parents and eligible students access to school records directly related to the students; to permit parents and eligible students to request amendment of those records on the grounds that they are inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy or other rights; to obtain the written consent of parents or eligible students before releasing personally identifiable information about the students contained in educational records to third parties, with certain exceptions; and to notify parents and eligible students of these rights annually.


  • To ensure that the school’s policies and practices comply with the Code of Conduct of the Archdiocese, particularly as they relate to the privacy of financial and administrative records.

Commentary/Procedural Points:


  • Schools shall give full rights under FERPA to a custodial and non-custodial parent (unless the school has been provided with certified copy of a court order denying such access) and to any other person acting as a parent in the absence of a parent (i.e., a step-parent or a grandparent with whom the child lives).


  • The term “educational records” means those records that are directly related to a student and maintained by the school.


  • The term “educational records” does not include: records of instructional, supervisory, and administrative personnel (and personnel ancillary to those persons) that are kept in the sole possession of the maker of the record, are used only as a personal memory aid, and are not accessible or revealed to any other person except a temporary substitute for the maker of the record; records that only contain information about an individual after he/she is no longer a student at that school.


  • “Directory information” means information contained in an educational record of a student that generally would not be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. It includes but is not limited to the student’s name, address, telephone listing, electronic mail address, photograph, date and place of birth, major field of study, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, dates of attendance, grade level, enrollment status, degrees and awards received, and the most recent previous educational agency or institution attended. The school must provide notice to parents of the types of information the school has designated as directory information, the parent’s right to “opt out” of this designation, and the period of time in which the parent must notify the school that he/she does not want any or all of those types of information about the student designated as directory information.

References:




August 4, 2022