Notification of Rights per FERPA

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that affords parents the right to have access to their children’s education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records.

When a student turns 18 years old, or enters a postsecondary institution at any age, the rights under FERPA transfer from the parents to the student (“eligible student”). The FERPA statute is found at 20 U.S.C. § 1232g and the FERPA regulations are found at 34 CFR Part 99. (FERPA | Protecting Student Privacy).

Parent(s), legal guardian(s) and students are also entitled to an opportunity for a hearing to challenge the contents of such records to ensure that they are not inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the privacy or other rights of the students, and to provide an opportunity for the correction or deletion of any such inaccurate, misleading or otherwise inappropriate data contained therein.

Questions regarding such a hearing should be directed to the school principal of the school which the student is attending or to the school superintendent.

Under the law, there are restrictions which prohibit the release or use of student records or any material contained therein to persons other than parent(s) or legal guardian or students or persons employed by the school district without the written consent of the parent(s), legal guardian or students.

Directory Information

Directory information is information contained in the education records of a student that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. Typically, "directory information" includes information such as name, address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, and dates of attendance. A school may disclose "directory information" to third parties without consent if it has given public notice of the types of information which it has designated as "directory information," the parent's or eligible student's right to restrict the disclosure of such information, and the period of time within which a parent or eligible student has to notify the school in writing that he or she does not want any or all of those types of information designated as "directory information." 34 CFR § 99.3 and 34 CFR § 99.37. (Directory Information | Protecting Student Privacy)