Tina Nazerian writes:
Want to throw away old student records? Make sure you don’t just put them in trash cans—shred them first. If you don’t, your institution might get accused of violating the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, which protects student education records in both K-12 and higher education.
LeRoy Rooker is a senior fellow at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. He’s a FERPA expert, having been the director of the Department of Education’s Family Policy Compliance Office for 21 years. That “clear violation of FERPA” is one of many he’s seen throughout the years, and he says it’s not just trash that schools and educators have to worry about.
Here are other unintentional ways they might be breaking the law, and what they need to be aware of in order to avoid consequences, which can include the Department of Education investigating the school (and the school then deciding to fire the offending educator).
Read more on EdSurge.