Okay, it’s bad enough that students get strip-searched in schools without seemingly having any right to refuse or to demand a parent or lawyer.
But for the building administrator to then issue a statement on the incident that names the student and reveals additional details about the student and his record, well, DOES ANYONE UNDERSTAND FERPA?
Yes, I’m screaming.
From a 2002 letter from the Director of the Family Policy Compliance Office:
FERPA prohibits a recipient of U.S. Department of Education funds from having a policy or practice of nonconsensually disclosing personally identifiable information derived from education records, except in certain statutorily specified circumstances. 20 U.S.C. § 1232g(b); 34 CFR § 99.31. While there are specific statutory exceptions to the prohibition that personally identifiable information from education records may not be released without consent, the FERPA statute does not include a general exception for the public disclosure of student disciplinary records. Accordingly, these records may not be disclosed without the prior written consent of the student or students about whom the records relate. 20 U.S.C. § 1232g(b)(1) and (d). See also 34 CFR § 99.30.
Did Mrs. Cox give the District explicit consent to discuss the case in the media or for the administrator to disclose that her son had been involved in incidents of lying during the school year? If not…..