IDEA is silent regarding whether or not the recording of IEP meetings is permissible. Therefore, the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, has issued guidance stating that state educational agencies have the option to require, prohibit, limit, or otherwise regulate the use of recording devices at IEP meetings. Because of the wide availability of recording devices, in 2016, MSDE required all Maryland school districts to identify whether there was guidance on recording IEP meetings and, if so, update such guidance and make it readily available to the public.
Pursuant to MCPS Regulation, ABA-RB, School Visitors, "To facilitate implementation of federal and state law regarding students with disabilities, parents/guardians who wish to create an audio recording of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) team meeting will be permitted to do so."
If a parent/guardian records an IEP team meeting, school personnel also will audio record the meeting. Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the school recording is considered an “education record” and must be confidentially maintained as part of the student’s record in the student's confidential folder. Audio recording by MCPS personnel should not be done on personal cell telephones. Audio files should be saved to an external drive and placed in the student's record.
It is expected that the audio recording will not be shared by either MCPS or the parents/guardians or disclosed without prior consent except as necessary for proceedings under state law or federal law or to implement the provision of educational services to the student.
Video recordings of IEP meetings are not permitted unless this prohibition denies the parent’s/guardian’s access to their rights under state and federal law.
Virtual IEP meetings may be recorded using the record function in the respective virtual meeting platform; however, participants will be asked to turn off their cameras prior to turning on the record function to comply with MCPS regulations prohibiting video recording of meetings.