FERPA + the Release of Directory Information

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a Federal law, requires that the Lakewood City School District, with certain exceptions, obtain your written consent prior to the disclosure of personally identifiable information from your child’s education records. However, the Lakewood City School District may disclose appropriately designated “directory information” without written consent, unless you have advised the District to the contrary in accordance with District procedures.

The primary purpose of directory information is to allow the Lakewood City School District to include this type of information from your child’s education records in certain school publications. Examples include:

• A playbill, showing your student’s role in a drama production

• The annual yearbook • Honor roll or other recognition lists

• Graduation programs

• Sports activity sheets, such as for wrestling, showing weight and height of team members

Directory information, which is information that is generally not considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if released, can also be disclosed to outside organizations without a parent’s prior written consent. Outside organizations include, but are not limited to, companies that manufacture class rings or publish yearbooks.

In all cases, the Lakewood City Schools reserves the right to control, limit, or otherwise approve of the use of directory information by outside organizations should this use be considered to jeopardize the privacy of a student. This includes, but is not limited to, the use of directory information for profit, advertising, promotion, broadcast, web presence or other activities that would expose the privacy of a student to a larger audience.

In addition, two federal laws require local educational agencies (LEAs) receiving assistance under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to provide military recruiters, upon request, with three directory information categories – names, addresses and telephone listings – unless parents have advised the LEA that they do not want their student’s information disclosed without their prior written consent. [These laws are: Section 9528 of the ESEA (20 U.S.C. 7908), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (P.L. 107-110), the education bill, and 10 U.S.C. 503, as amended by section 544, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (P.L. 107-107), the legislation that provides funding for the Nation’s armed forces.]

If you do not want the Lakewood City School District to disclose directory information from your child’s education records to Armed Forces recruiters without your prior written consent, you must notify the District by submitting the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) Notice for Directory Information and Release to Armed Forces Recruiters form to the LHS Principal’s office.

In accordance with O.R.C. 3319.321 (B) (1), the Lakewood City School District has designated the following information as directory information: the student’s name, address, telephone listing, email, 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, date of graduation and awards received.