I’ve had a number of concerns over the past few years about how Oklahoma interprets federal and state student privacy laws. Here’s yet another example – this time where they’re withholding information, citing state law. Nate Robson reports: The state Department of Education refuses to release the graduation rates for 58 percent of the state’s…
Category: Youth & Schools
Clark County School District pushes to release deceased student’s farewell notes
Neal Morton reports that a school district is seeking court permission to release a student’s private farewell notes. The district’s motion, within the context of defending a lawsuit against them stemming from the student’s suicide, raises questions of privacy: The Clark County School District hopes to win favor in the court of public opinion with the unsealing of several…
More Campuses Are Scanning Students’ Eyeballs Instead Of IDs
Kim Bellware reports: Blink and you’ll miss dinner. Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond is the latest institution to jump aboard the biometrics bandwagon. On Wednesday, the school announced it had added two iris cameras to the campus dining hall so that students can use their eyes instead of their ID for access. “Students won’t need their ID…
Requesting your child’s education records: FERPA, FOIA, or both?
As most of this site’s readers know by now, FERPA is the federal law protecting students’ education records and it gives parents the right to inspect their child’s records. At age 18, the access rights generally transfer to the student. As a parent, and as a long-time advocate for the disability community, I have often filed requests…